Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Jessica Rosenworcel (pictured) will leave the agency that oversees the telecommunications industry on 20 January 2025, the same day Donald Trump becomes president.

Rosenworcel joined the FCC in 2012 and was confirmed for additional terms by the US senate in 2017 and 2021.

She was named acting chair in January 2021 prior to being confirmed as the agency’s first female permanent chair in October of the same year.

The FCC is comprised of five commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the US senate, with the president then selecting one as the chair. A maximum of three from one political party can serve at a time.

She is following an FCC precedent of exiting when a new president takes office, which will leave the commission split 2-2 between Democratic and Republican appointees until her replacement is approved.

President elect Trump named Republican Brendan Carr as the next chair.

Rosenworcel stated serving at the FCC has been “the honour of a lifetime”. She thanked current president Joe Biden “for entrusting me with the responsibility to guide the FCC during a time when communications technology is a part of every aspect of civic and commercial life”.

During her tenure as chair, she championed the formation of the Space Bureau and a broadband affordability programme that connected more than 23 million households to high-speed internet and provided internet access to more than 17 million students.

She led an effort to bring back controversial net neutrality rules removed in 2017 during the administration of former president Donald Trump. Carr opposed the return of net neutrality.

Rosenworcel was hamstrung by the senate not confirming a third Democratic FCC commissioner until September 2023, which prevented it from moving forward on several fronts.