Ofcom announced today the appointment of Ed Richards as its new CEO, effective today.

Richards (bio here) is of course by now an old-hand at Ofcom and will need no transition to speak of. Richards has already been acting as COO of Ofcom. Richards, however, will face a different set of challenges than his predecessor Stephen Carter. Among these new challenges are:

* Steering Ofcom through its day-to-day implementation of the various strategic reviews. This means real bread-and-butter regulatory work like conducting radio spectrum auctions and supervising BT-Openreach as it starts to deliver on its Sept 2005 undertakings. Gone - for the most part - are the days of strategic thinking combined with predictive statements about the future.

* Ensuring that Ofcom’s voice is heard on key issues. Ofcom to its credit, tend to think and act in an evidence-based manner, but are surrounded by a regulatory environment which is highly politicised. This has been particularly true in both the media and new media, an area where Stephen Carter’s Ofcom often produced good thinking, but was unable to translate that into actual policy (eg, BBC charter review). Richards comes from the political world, and this might benefit Ofcom in that respect.

* Being a champion of ‘better regulation’ in dealing with the European Commission, health advocates, and other populist causes.