The FCC's broadband plan advisor, Blair Levin, will exit the commission May 7 to join the Aspen Institute as a Communications & Society Fellow, according to the chairman's office.
Levin shepherded the plan through its unveiling last month, but had always said it was a short-term posting.
"Blair has been masterful in providing wisdom to the Commission about how technology and market trends interact with the nation's public policy agenda," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "His leadership in raising the quality of work and thought throughout the Commission is beyond measure and I am sure he will continue to make similar contributions for the country while he is at the Aspen Institute."
The plan has been praised as a good start on a broadband deployment and adoption roadmap, and criticized as being more about vision than tactics and not having enough incentives for private investment.
Levin has said that the plan is not an end point, but more of a beginning, and that it will be something of a living document rather than a final product.
