H. Russell Frisby Jr.

THEN: In 1987, H. Russell Frisby Jr., was an attorney for the firm Melnicove, Weiner, Kaufman, Weiner, Smouse & Garbis. This post followed four years spent working as an attorney adviser in the FCCs Common Carrier Bureau. While there he was an author of the commissions landmark Final Decision in the Second Computer Inquiry, which deregulated terminal equipment and enhanced services, and established pro-competitive regulations. He also served as legal assistant to FCC Commissioner Joseph R. Fogarty and was involved in a number of major FCC decisions. He followed Fogarty into private practice in 1983.[1987] was shortly after divestiture, Frisby recalls. The competitive industry was still rather small and the Bells were still focused on their LEC business. Wireless phones were the size of bricks and coverage was limited in many areas.Cable and broadcast were the more prominent areas of communications law. NOW: Today, after having served as a chairman of the Maryland PUC and seven years as the president and CEO of COMPTEL, Frisby has resumed his career as an attorney working for the Washington D.C. firm Fleischman & Walsh.The telecom industry will continue to evolve as ILECs, CLECs, MSOs and wireless carriers offer similar quadruple play services, he says. He expects consolidation in the marketplace to continue with likely combinations between MSO/wireless, LEC/satellite and/or Internet company/LEC/wireless entities. Through this period, he adds, the CLEC industry will thrive through emphasis on quality service to enterprise customers and innovative offerings. Meanwhile, he says, rate regulation will continue to wither away and be replaced by consumer-type oversight.