Federal Communications commissioner Meredith Baker announced Wednesday that she will resign from the FCC on June 3 and join Comcast-NBC Universal as its senior vice president of governmental affairs.

Baker, a Republican, joined the FCC in 2009 after working at the National Telecomunications and Information Administration under President George W. Bush.

While at the NTIA, Baker oversaw a $1.5 billion coupon program to help consumers make the transition to digital-only television.

In a statement announcing her resignation, Baker said she is most proud of the work she has done with FCC on spectrum reform. “It is the most important step we can take to ensure our nation’s competitiveness in an increasingly interconnected world,” she said.

The commissioner’s announcement comes four months after voting to approve a merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.

In a statement, the company’s Washington office president, Kyle McSlarrow, said, “Meredith’s executive branch and business experience along with her exceptional relationships in Washington bring Comcast and NBCUniversal the perfect combination of skills.”

Senate lawmakers grilled the chief executives of AT&T and T-Mobile on Wednesday on their proposed $39 million merger, questioning whether the deal would lead to less competition and higher prices for consumers.

And among the most forceful arguing that it would was the chief executive of another major wireless provider, Dan Hesse of Sprint Nextel. He told lawmakers that if the merger of his competitors was approved, his firm probably wouldn’t survive as a stand-alone company.

“It would fundamentally put us in a situation where this is a duopoly (industry) and it puts us in position to be acquired,” Hesse said in the antitrust subcommittee hearing.

That, he said, would mean that the merger would create a domino affect of consolidation in the industry, leading to the reduction of national carriers from four to two, with AT&T and Verizon Wireless taking 80 percent of the market.

No one on the antitrust subcommittee called for the deal, first announced in March, to be blocked, and opinions about the deal largely fell along party lines. Democratic lawmakers called for strong conditions and more scrutiny. Republican lawmakers called for “humility” when it comes to government decisions that affect the market, and some supported the argument by AT&T that the deal would help expedite the deployment of high-speed wireless connections to rural portions of the nation.

“I fear that if approved, the merger would take us one step away from a monopoly market we had under Ma Bell,” said Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), calling for the subcommittee to hold more hearings on the proposed union. He said a second hearing should follow that closely examines how the merger would affect wireless service prices for consumers.

“It took the DoJ more than 30 years before they eventually broke up Ma Bell, and it is important to keep in mind the stakes of the merger of this size and scope,” Franken said.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the market is competitive, with new service providers such as Metro PCS and Leap attracting low-cost consumers.

He said T-Mobile customers would be able to retain their current contracts if the merger is approved. But he said those service plans – known for being a low-cost alternative – wouldn’t be offered to AT&T customers.

Several times, Stephenson argued that the merger would help advance White House goals of bringing ubiquitous high-speed Internet access to the nation, drawing criticism from Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the subcommittee, who said the merger was about business and “not about national interests,” and that the discussion “should be on that level.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also picked apart AT&T’s argument that by combining AT&T and T-Mobile airwaves, rural areas would get wireless access sooner. He said AT&T already has a large holding of spectrum in Vermont and wondered why AT&T hasn’t used those airwaves yet. He said representatives of AT&T have promised that 250,000 more people in Vermont would get high-speed 4G service thanks to the merger.

“Forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical,” he said, “given past promises.”

Related Stories:

Sprint’s head lobbyist spearheads fight against AT&T - T-Mobile merger

Q&A with AT&T head lobbyist on merger

We’ll be live-tweeting today’s hearing of the Senate Judiciary committee, where top telecom executives — including representatives of the merger companies -- and companies and groups opposed to the deal will testify on the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile. The hearing begins at 10:15 a.m.

LEADING THE DAY: Top telecom executives will speak on the Hill today as the Senate Judiciary committee meets to discuss the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

The deal, which would create the country’s biggest cell carrier at 130 million users, is expected to face a tough climb to approval. Several of the deal’s opponents will have their say as well: Sprint, Cellular South and Public Knowledge have all come out against the deal, saying it will create a duopoly that’s bad for consumers, competition and innovation in the industry.

AT&T and T-Mobile will argue that the deal will help stave off a spectrum crisis and build out broadband access to over 95 percent of the country. The CWA is expected to speak in favor of the deal, saying that a T-Mobile acquisition was inevitable and that, for U.S. telecom workers, a partnership between T-Mobile and AT&T is preferable to one between T-Mobile and Sprint.

Groupon launches instant site: Groupon has launched a pilot program for Groupon Now, its instant mobile deals site, in Chicago as it continues to expand its coupon offerings and move toward an initial public offering.

The company was supposedly trying to file for an initial public offering this week, All Things Digital reported, at the urging of CEO Andrew Mason and others at the company. The company will wait to get its financials completely straight before moving ahead but is expected to file its paperwork very soon. The offering is expected to be valued at $15 billion or more.

Google income falls because of expected DOJ charge: In Google’s recent SEC filing, the company revealed it is expecting to pay $500 million to the Justice Department following an investigation into its advertising practices, Bloomberg reported. The expected payout cuts the company’s overall net income to $1.8 billion from its reported first-quarter profit of $2.3 billion.

Skype demanded at least $7 billion:Skype refused to entertain offers under $7 billion dollars for its acquisition, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the talks that led to Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of the internet telephone company. The companies reportedly agreed on a price in mid-April and finalized the deal on Monday. It is Microsoft’s largest-ever acquisition.

Google introduces Android@Home: At its I/O Developers Conference yesterday, Google introduced Android@Home, an product that will let you control many of your electronic devices through one system. The platform attempts to create an open standard that will work with myriad devices, regardless of manufacturer. A release date for the platform has not yet been announced.

The company announced that there are currently 100 million active Android devices and 400,000 new Android gadgets are activated every day.

State of the Net: A Consumer Reports survey found that American Web users share sensitive information online and fail to take the proper precautions to protect it. According to the report, roughly 20 percent of Facebook users don’t use the site’s privacy controls and more than 5 million American households have faced some kind of abuse such as identity theft or bullying on Facebook in the past year.

There were a lot of questions at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on mobile privacy Tuesday. Representatives from Apple and Google faced tough scrutiny over their privacy and other company policies.

Google’s Alan Davidson, the company’s director of public policy in the Americas, echoed previous company statements that customers have control over whether their data is collected and that the data collected is anonymous.

Apple’s software chief, Guy “Bud” Tribble, emphasized that Apple does not track its users or collect location data from customers without consent. He also noted that an icon appears in the toolbar of Apple devices when location services are in use.

Tribble said that the company has fixed a bug in its latest software update that did record data when users opted out of location services.

But lawmakers weren’t buying it. Subcommittee chairman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked if time-stamped location data, even if crowd-sourced, could still be used to trace customer movement. Researcher Ashkan Soltani said that it could be used that way and that claims that the data is anonymous are not completely sincere.

Turning to data-sharing, Franken expressed concerns that current law allows companies to share information with third parties, such as app makers, without disclosing their actions to consumers. He asked whether Google and Apple would require app makers to have a privacy policy in order to submit their programs to the companies’ mobile application stores.

Neither company gave a direct response. Davidson said he would ask Google for a response to that question. Tribble said that he believes privacy must be built into apps to be truly effective, as many people do not read privacy policies.

Subcommittee members asked the companies about other data collection and app curation issues. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) confronted Davidson over “Spy-Fi”issue, when German authorities found that Google’s Street View cameras were collecting information from wireless networks. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) revisited his concerns about Apple’s and Google’s reluctance to remove an app that identifies drunk-driving checkpoints.

In the end, few committee members seemed satisfied with the answers given in the hearing, particularly on whether companies were doing enough to protect consumer rights.

“I still have serious doubts that those rights are being respected in law or in practice,” Franken said in closing. “We need to think seriously about how to address this problem and we need to address this problem now.”

Analyst Carl Howe of the Yankee Group, a Boston-based tech analysis firm, spoke with Washington Post reporter Cecilia Kang to discuss the Microsoft acquisition of Skype and what it means for both companies:

Skype is expected to support Microsoft devices such as the Xbox, Kinect and Windows Phone. (DENIS BALIBOUSE - REUTERS) Microsoft said Tuesday it agreed to buy Skype for $8.5 billion in cash, the company’s biggest bet yet against Google, Apple and Facebook, who are leading the race to bring Internet services to any device.

Through its acquisition of Luxembourg-based Skype, Microsoft bought the world’s biggest Internet voice and video calling service, with 170 million users around the globe.

In a conference call with reporters, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said Skype’s service will meld with the Redmond, Wash., company’s diverse range of businesses to help it woo more customers who play games, socialize and conduct work over smart phones, tablets, PCs and televisions.

“By bringing together the best of Microsoft and Skype, we are empowering people around the world with new technologies that bring them together,” Ballmer said.

Skype has a deep footprint in Internet voice and video conferencing over smart phones, which make up about 45 percent of its business. That service gives Microsoft’s struggling Windows-based line of smart phones a big brand name that it hopes will draw in new consumers and better compete against Google Voice on Android phones and Facetime on Apple’s iPhone.

Microsoft’s edge in gaming entertainment, with its XBox consoles, gives Skype a new entre into the U.S. living room. Through the acquisition, Microsoft and Skype plan to provide better communications and video services for XBox and Kinnect users to keep them playing longer. Greater engagement with games and other services over mobile devices and television spells greater advertising revenues, the firms said.

“We want to approach the market around a rich media experience,” said Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive. Skype will remain a separate division of Microsoft, and Bates will stay as president and report directly to Ballmer.

But the company, whose main business is business software, has struggled to compete against Google, Apple and Facebook. Google’s cloud-based business software including Gmail, calendar and documents, has been adopted by local governments and businesses as an alternative to Windows Office suite. Apple and Google are going head to head for smartphone and tablet customers, while Microsoft struggles with its Windows software for mobile devices. Facebook has become the world’s biggest platform for information sharing and entertainment such as games.

Ballmer said in the call that he first made his offer to Skype in April as the VOIP provider prepared for its initial public offering. The deal was signed Monday night, and Ballmer said he hoped to get regulatory approval for the deal by the end of the calendar year.

Analysts said the deal will likely get the go-ahead by antitrust authorities. Either the Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission will review the transaction for any anticompetitive concerns. The European Commission will also have to review the acquisition.

The acquisition comes amid a scramble by communications, entertainment and Internet services firms to best position themselves in a world where information converges on the Internet.

Comcast bought NBC Universal to add entertainment to its offerings. AT&T wants to be the biggest wireless provider through its acquisition of T-Mobile. Dish Network is buying Blockbuster and satellite companies to be a stronger provider of entertainment over wireless devices.

“This tie-up puts more pressure on other industry players to consider their own strategic deals,” said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. “And while AT&T/T-Mobile could still get blocked, Microsoft-Skype likely wouldn’t, so it furthers cements the industry trend toward consolidation.”

As for consumers, Microsoft said current Skype users won’t be affected. Ballmer promised that Skype will continue to operate on non-Windows platforms.

On question, though, is whether Microsoft can use Skype to its full potential. Microsoft doesn’t have the greatest track record with acquisitions: Products such as Hotmail have been left to languish, while a series of other promising acquisitions have been shut down. On the other hand, Business Insider has pointed out some notable exceptions: Microsoft’s 2000 acquisition of video game company Bungie yielded the mega-hit Halo and gave the Xbox a solid following.

Staff writer Hayley Tsukayama contributed to this report.

Skype users: What do you think about this deal?

Related stories:

What the Microsoft/Skype deal means, via Skype

Skype hits the skids, suffers extensive outage

Skype fixes Android security problem, adds 3G calling

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer will be speaking with reporters on a conference call Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Follow along here as I tweet about his remarks.

Related news: Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5B

Representatives from Apple and Google will speak before the Senate Judiciary Privacy subcommittee Tuesday morning to explain how their companies collect and share customers’ personal information.

Shortly after a report circulated revealing an unprotected file on Apple’s iPhone that stores location data, subcommittee chairman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs asking for more information on the company’s privacy practices. Within days, he invited Apple and Google — which makes the Android mobile platform — to testify at the privacy panel’s first hearing.

In an interview, Franken said that the hearing's basic purpose is to let lawmakers and consumers know what choices these companies provide to consumers who want control over their personal information.

Below is an edited version of our conversation:

What do you hope learn from this hearing?

I believe people have a right to know what’s going on with their information and how it’s collected, how it’s stored and who gets it. The purpose of this hearing is to bring members of the committee and the Senate up to speed on those policies.

It's also a public service. People just don't know what these policies are. We'll see if there needs to be changes, either through legislation or in another way.

I like Apple, and I like Google. It’s hard to think of two companies who have done more in terms of innovation in this country. What we need is a business model here that allows for innovation. This hearing is just to be sure that people have control over their information. This is not to overreact. People just need to be aware of what's going on.

Were you satisfied with the answers Apple provided in their Q&A to consumers and their letter to you?

I was satisfied with some of their answers. The location discussion seemed a little unsatisfactory. In my letter, I asked why they did not disclose these policies to device owners. The answer felt a little too legalistic, just too much gobbledygook.

What else would you like to hear from Apple and Google?

I’d like to hear about how they can protect the privacy of the owners of these devices, in terms of their personal information. I’d also like to know what apps are doing and whether that information is shared with third parties.

Is there a privacy policy out there you see as a good model for others?

Not that I’ve seen. The current policies don't do a lot of good. Apple’s software licensing agreement is about the same length as the Constitution. Google's screen for privacy settings does give you more options for what you share than Apple’s does. But it’s not a complete list and people aren’t aware of whether or not that information will go to a third party.

Do you think kids’ privacy is a particular concern?

Kids’ privacy is an issue to look at, but it’s all part and parcel of the whole thing.

How does this discussion fit in with current legislation on the Hill, like the Kerry-McCain privacy bill?

If legislation does come out of this, it will be smaller and more narrow than the Kerry bill. It would be focused on mobile devices. We're looking at a narrower thing.

We’re looking at the basic value of privacy and at information: who has the information, how it's being disseminated, who is disseminating it and to whom. What we’re concerned with is making sure that people have control.

LEADING THE DAY: Microsoft has completed a deal to acquire Skype for about $8.5 billion, including debt, All Things Digital reported. The deal was formally announced Tuesday morning. The partnership gives Microsoft a way to compete with Google’s Voice service and Apple’s Facetime platform.

Skype’s internet telephone service will reportedly be integrated with Microsoft’s Kinect gaming accessory and Windows Live.

Mobile privacy hearing: Representatives from Apple and Google will speak about their policies on handling consumers’ personal information before the Senate Judiciary’s privacy subcommittee on Tuesday morning. The subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), will ask the companies for a clearer explanation of their privacy policies, particularly regarding location data and how personal information is shared with third parties.

The hearing follows uproar over a file on the iPhone that appeared to contain tracking data. Apple has clarified that the file was a part of a larger, crowd-sourced location database — not a tracking file — and says it has fixed bugs in its operating system that store the data for up to a year.

Google planning cloud music service: Google is expected to launch a cloud-based music locker on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported, competing with a similar service from Amazon. According to the report, Google is planning to move ahead with the launch without securing licenses from major record labels. Record label negotiations are rumored to be slowing down a similar service from Apple. Google’s music locker is not expected to be tied to a music store.

FCC, FEMA launch emergency alerts : Executives from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon will join officials from the FCC and FEMA to launch a mobile emergency alerts system in Washington, D.C. and New York, The Washington Post reported. The system--called PLAN, which stands for Personal Localized Alerting Network--will push mobile messages about natural disasters, terror attacks or AMBER alerts to smartphone users from these companies.

YouTube expands movie rentals: Google’s YouTube, in a serious bid to compete with Netflix, announced Monday that it has partnered with Universal Studios, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. to add 3,000 movies to its rental service. Rentals will cost about $4 for new rentals and $3 for older movies. The service is not subscription-based.

VA hires internal blogger: In a push to embrace the Internet, The Department of Veterans Affairs has hired a critical blogger, Alex Horton, to open the agency’s bureaucracy to scrutiny, The Washington Post reports. Horton landed the job after returning from a deployment in Iraq and criticizing the agency on his personal blog.