Kathleen Abernathy will resign from the FCC effective Dec. 9, leaving the telecommunications regulatory body with two openings to fill and missing one of its consistent champions of deregulation.

Abernathy, a Republican, announced her departure Thursday after U.S. President George Bush accepted her resignation Wednesday, she wrote in a statement posted on the FCC's Web site. She has served on the FCC for 4 1/2 years, during which she worked to limit government regulation of emerging telecommunications technologies such as VoIP, she wrote.

"Our decisions increasingly reflect the wisdom of relying on competition, rather than regulation, as the best means of assuring that consumers get the telecommunications services they want at affordable rates," Abernathy wrote. "Our largely market-driven approach to advanced services has helped create a vibrant market for new wired and wireless telecommunications products, and our spectrum reform initiatives have improved our ability to put this scarce resource to its most effective use."

Her resignation leaves the FCC with only three confirmed members on the five-person commission: Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, and Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, both Democrats.

Republican Deborah Tate has been nominated to fill the position created by the departure of former Chairman Michael Powell in January, but her nomination has yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.