Ernest S. Ting, principal of the firm, has extensive experience providing expert counsel on telecommunications and technology policy issues from both a governmental and business perspective. He has been involved in a wide range of matters at the national, state or local level since the breakup of the Bell System in 1984. As a consultant since 1995, Mr. Ting has assisted clients with policy and implementation issues associated with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, state and local laws, FCC and PUC rules, with the analysis of cost studies, and with the development of expert witness testimony before regulatory commissions in states such as California, New York, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Ting was in charge of the telecommunications group of the Division of Strategic Planning at the California Public Utilities Commission. In that capacity, he provided expert analyses of market, technological and legal changes in the telecommunications and information technology industries, and was the senior policy advisor to all of the commissioners on the development of regulatory reforms to reflect those changes.

During that time, Mr. Ting was the California Commission's principal staff spokesman before various national policy and industry bodies. He served on the staff of the Federal Communication Commission’s Joint Federal-State Conference on Open Network Architecture, leading a task force on separations issues which developed recommendations adopted by FCC and state commissioners. He also served on the staff of the Communications Committee of NARUC, the national association of state public utility regulators.

In 1993, Mr. Ting assisted the California Commission and the Governor's Office in the development of one of the first comprehensive policy frameworks for promoting an "information superhighway" through the use of competitive markets. He was the project manager for the California Commission's report, Enhancing California's Competitive Strength: A Strategy for Telecommunications Infrastructure. The report's recommendations were embraced by the California Legislature and became the policy foundation for the state's movement toward local competition in telecommunications and associated information technologies.

The report also addressed the relationship of federal and state regulation to local and regional interests. In addition to his extensive work with state and federal policymakers, Mr. Ting acted as one of the Commission's principal liaisons with city governments and municipal utilities interested in promoting information infrastructure development or ameliorating its adverse impacts.

While at the California Commission, Mr. Ting played a significant role in defining appropriate state and local discretion and authority over telecommunications and information technology policy. He was heavily involved in coordinating regulatory policy with legal strategy for the Commission over the course of a number of successful federal court challenges on advanced technology policy matters. He also led efforts to pare away unnecessary regulatory burdens and negotiate ways to reconcile federal, state and local policies in the overall public interest.

From 1986 to 1987, Mr. Ting was a senior economics and policy analyst for the Commission's Public Staff Division, the entity charged with representing the interests of residential and business consumers in the state. In that position, Mr. Ting served as the lead witness on a variety of subjects including access charge costs and rates, and information services policies. He also served as a member of the Incremental Cost Task Force of academic economists and regulatory experts which advised on the development of incremental costing analyses for local service. Mr. Ting was also a principal advisor to the Commission in the design of its 1989 decision adopting a price cap regulatory framework and its 1993 rulemaking on unbundling components of the public telecommunications network.

From 1984 to 1986, Mr. Ting was employed by Pacific Bell as a senior analyst and manager in various regulatory, business planning and financial management groups. In those capacities, he was one of the company’s lead analysts of access charge market demand and revenues, liaison for marketing and cost study groups with regulatory commissions, and a lead analyst for witness support in general rate case and new service introduction proceedings.

In the past, Mr. Ting has been an instructor for workshops for public officials and staff on regulatory policy and jurisdictional issues in telecommunications. He has also taught graduate and undergraduate college courses in government regulation of business, and legal and regulatory issues in telecommunications. He has been a speaker or panelist on market, technology, legal and regulatory issues before a variety of national conferences and industry associations, including the National Cable Television Association, Information Industry Association, Competitive Telecommunications Association, Tele-Communications Association, and Com-Net.

Mr. Ting also assisted the California state-sponsored One Gigabit or Bust Initiative, which sought to provide gigabit broadband capabilities to everyone. He served as the Deputy Chair of its Wireless Task Force, which investigated ways in which wireless technologies can be used to deliver gigabit access.

Mr. Ting graduated from Yale University in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. His coursework at Yale included economic and policy issues in public utility ratemaking. He also received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1980.