Exclusive: Biden’s new power player on broadband and Big Tech – Axios

The new leader of a little-known agency within the Commerce Department starts the job tasked with connecting every American to the internet, but also has ambitions to tackle Big Tech issues on the horizon.

Why it matters: Alan Davidson, the newly confirmed head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will manage tens of billions of federal spending on broadband but he's also talking about helping set administration policy around app stores and privacy.

Driving the news: In his first major interview since taking the NTIA helm, Davidson told Axios his biggest priority is making sure every American has access to affordable, high-speed internet.

The intrigue: Davidson also told Axios his agency will soon launch a review of competition in the mobile app ecosystem, with a goal of producing a report this summer to help develop Biden administration policy.

Yes, but: The broadband program will take up the bulk of the agency's resources and focus, even as it takes on tech-related issues, including a review of how data privacy issues affect civil rights.

The big picture: Davidson has watched the tech industry grow up since he started Google's Washington office in 2005. (After leaving Google in 2012, he did stints at MIT, New America's Open Technology Institute, the Commerce Department, and most recently Mozilla.)

Of note: Other agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, are tasked with tech and telecom regulation and enforcement.

Between the lines: Davidson has big ambitions for a relatively small agency that has been without a permanent leader since 2019.

What to watch: Previous leaders of NTIA have mostly come from "the telecommunications side of the house," as Davidson puts it. But the MIT-trained computer scientist turned lawyer is a "technologist at heart."

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Exclusive: Biden's new power player on broadband and Big Tech - Axios