NEWS                                                    February 23, 1998

 
      DOUGLAS W. WEBBINK NAMED CHIEF ECONOMIST, INTERNATIONAL BUREAU
 
     Douglas Webbink has been appointed to the position of Chief Economist in the FCC's
International Bureau.    Webbink will act as an economic advisor to the Bureau Chief on a
variety of satellite and telecommunications issues.

     From September 1987 until March 1990 Webbink was the Assistant Chief for
Economics in the Policy and Rules Division of the Mass Media Bureau, and from March,
1990 until January 1998 he was the Chief of the Policy and Rules Division of the Mass
Media Bureau.  Previously Mr. Webbink held a variety of staff positions at the Commission,
including three years as Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy.  

     Before coming to the FCC, Webbink spent a number of years at the Federal Trade
Commission, Bureau of Economics in the Divisions of Industry Analysis, Regulatory
Analysis and Consumer Protection.  In addition, he spent a year at the consulting firm of
Cornell, Pelcovits and Brenner Economists, Inc.  At the beginning of his career he taught
microeconomics, macroeconomics, industrial organization, economic regulation of public
utilities and economic regulation of transportation at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
 
     Webbink received a B.A. in Physics from Brown University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in
Economics from Duke University in 1968, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He is
the author of more than 25 reports and articles on a variety of subjects such as frequency
spectrum markets, spectrum auctions, the mass media and common carrier industries, the
semiconductor industry and the energy industries. 

                                  - FCC -