News

Currie Re-appointed at Ofcom

Comms Business Magazine is awaiting channel reaction to the news that Lord (David) Currie of Marylebone has been re-appointed as Chairman of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson.

The re-appointment will be for a period of 2 years, commencing after the end of his cur-rent term. The appointment will end on 31 July 2009, after the completion of two terms.

In announcing the re-appointment, Tessa Jowell said: "David Currie has been instru-mental in the successful establishment of Ofcom as the UK's regulator for the communi-cations industries and I congratulate him on that achievement. The complexity of form-ing and developing such an organisation, taking on the different roles of all the five predecessor organisations, should not be under-estimated. The challenges facing Of-com in carrying out its role over the next few years are of course considerable, and I am very pleased that as a result of his reappointment, David will be able to continue leading Ofcom's Board in tackling those challenges effectively."

Alan Johnson also welcomed the re-appointment, saying: "We are pleased that David Currie has accepted the invitation to remain as Chairman of Ofcom for a second, final, term in communications regulation. Since Ofcom was established it has developed an excellent reputation among stakeholders for its firm yet flexible approach to regulation.

"David's role in providing a strategic direction to Ofcom, has been invaluable, and his reappointment will help ensure that Ofcom continues to build effectively on the substan-tial foundations which David and his colleagues have laid."