WASHINGTON-The PCIA Foundation last week bestowed its annual awards on two significant telecommunications policy makers.
The Personal Communications Industry Association’s 1999 Eugene C. Bowler Award was given to Thomas S. Tycz, chief of the Satellite and Radiocommunications Division of the FCC’s International Bureau. Tycz, who has been called a “national treasure” in open meetings of the Federal Communications Commission, is responsible for regulating and licensing all commercial U.S. satellite and earth station facilities and the international coordination of these facilities with other administrations according to International Telecommunication Union regulations.
Tycz said he had “been walking on air for at least the last couple of weeks. I am thrilled … It is gratifying that the PCIA Foundation considers my work to be worthy of this award.”
Referring to the “national treasure” moniker, FCC Chairman William Kennard said in introducing Tycz, “We would expand on that and call Tom an international treasure.”
Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House telecom subcommittee and PCIA’s Lifetime Achievement Honoree, praised the PCIA Foundation for giving an award to a bureaucrat.
The awards were given at the Ninth Annual PCIA Foundation Eugene C. Bowler Dinner and Awards. Jay Kitchen, PCIA president, also honored recipients of various scholarships.
In his speech, Kitchen remarked about the last 50 years of wireless communications. “There are many legacies of the 20th century, not the least of which is the age of communications, including the advent of mobile communications. With the past 50 years of progress in wireless, we’ve had land mobile radio, followed by messaging, voice, data, Internet, satellite and soon next-generation wireless communications. Imagine what we’ll do in another 50 years, or even in the next five years.”
