WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald

Trump will tap Brendan Carr, a critic of the Biden

administration's telecom policies and Big Tech, as chairman of

the Federal Communications Commission, he said in a statement on

Sunday.

Carr, 45, is currently the top Republican on the FCC, the

independent agency that regulates telecommunications.

He has been a harsh critic of the FCC's decision not to

finalize nearly $900 million in broadband subsidies for Elon

Musk's SpaceX satellite internet unit Starlink, as well as the

Commerce Department's $42 billion broadband infrastructure

program and President Joe Biden's spectrum policy.

Last week, Carr wrote to Meta's Facebook,

Alphabet's Google, Apple ( AAPL ) and Microsoft ( MSFT )

saying they had taken steps to censor Americans. Carr

said on Sunday the FCC must "restore free speech rights for

everyday Americans."

The president-elect has scorned actions by Disney's ( DIS )

ABC, Comcast's ( CMCSA ) NBC and Paramount Global's ( PARAA )

CBS and suggested they could lose their FCC licenses

for various actions. Trump also sued CBS over its "60 Minutes"

interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Carr criticized NBC for letting Harris appear on "Saturday

Night Live" just before the election.

Trump in his first term called on the FCC to revoke

broadcast licenses, prompting then FCC Chair Ajit Pai to reject

the idea, saying "the FCC does not have the authority to revoke

a license of a broadcast station based on the content."

The FCC issues eight-year licenses to individual

broadcast stations, not to broadcast networks.

In 2022, Carr, a strong critic of China, became the

first FCC commissioner to visit Taiwan. He has been an advocate

of the FCC's hard line on Chinese telecom companies.

Carr was a strong opponent of the FCC's decision in April to

reinstate landmark net neutrality rules that were repealed

during the first Trump administration. The Biden FCC rules were

put on hold by a federal appeals court.

Trump nominated Carr to the FCC during in his first

administration in January, 2017, after he had served as the

FCC's general counsel.

The incoming administration will need to nominate a

Republican to fill a seat on the five-member commission before

it can take full control of the agency.

Carr "is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought

against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans'

Freedoms, and held back our Economy," Trump said in a statement.