Now a senior vice president at Verizon in charge of public policy and government relations, Kathryn Brown is well versed in the ways of telecom regulation, having previously served as the FCC's Chief of Staff and in other governmental bodies associated with the communications industry.
In a panel discussion at the Spring VON show Monday, Brown decried the state of the state of telecom regulation, calling for a "new policy framework" instead of tweaks to the existing regulatory system.
"It's clear with the changes in technology, the old [regulatory] distinctions do not apply," Brown told the panel audience. "The current regulatory framework cannot keep up."
Verizon, Brown said, is "embracing the change" to IP-based networks, and is actively participating in industry-wide talks to see if telecom vendors can work out some issues amongst themselves, instead of waiting for a governmental edict that may or may not ever come.
"We are part of an enormous attempt to bring everyone together," Brown said. "But it does depend on the cooperation of all the players" to make such a plan work. Networking Pipeline caught up with Brown after her talk, for a few follow-on questions:
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