WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Making good on his plan to quit his post after completing review of the planned merger of America Online and Time Warner, FCC Chairman William Kennard said on Friday he was resigning from his job, even as he was explaining the commissions approval of the massive deal.

"I have devoted my chairmanship to meeting the twin challenges of the Digital Age," Kennard said in a lengthy release detailing his accomplishments in the areas of broadband deployment, school Internet access and agency modernization.

Kennard departs the agency at the end of next week, despite the fact that his term runs until the end of June.

"I feel very privileged that I was able to serve as chairman of the FCC at a time when communications technologies are so dramatically changing the way the American people live, work and learn," Kennard wrote in a letter to President Bill Clinton announcing his resignation.

Upon leaving the job, Kennard will serve as a senior fellow at the Aspen Institutes Washington-based Communications and Society Program.

"My immediate plans are to go [to the] Aspen Institute ... get some rest and spend some time with my 10-month old baby," Kennard said, adding that he was already eyeing possible writing and speaking engagements.

Earlier this week, high-tech industry observers -- anticipating Kennards departure -- praised the chairman and his most likely replacement, FCC Commissioner Michael Powell.

Powell, the son of Secretary of State-appointee Colin Powell, is "as smart as they come (and) a very, very thoughtful man," Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) President Harris Miller said earlier this week. "If the President-elect asks him to and he chooses to take this assignment, wed be thrilled to work with him."

One thing left undone by Kennard, which figures to be among the first orders of business for his successor, is the expansion of broadband Internet availability to reach homes and small businesses across the last mile of deployment, Miller said.

"The thing that needs to be front and center on the new chairmans agenda is to continue to push for competition and broadband access," Miller said.

Newsbytes Staff Writer Brian Krebs contributed to this report

David McGuire, Newsbytes