President Barack Obama was due to name a former cable and wireless industry lobbyist to head the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday.

A White House official told the Associated Press that Obama planned to announce Tom Wheeler as the top telecommunications regulator in the US. The official said Obama would name FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn to serve as acting chairwoman while Wheeler awaits Senate confirmation.

Wheeler raised more than $500,000 for Obama's re-election effort, according to data provided by the campaign. He also contributed more than $17,000 combined to Obama's re-election and to several Senate campaigns, including Virginia Democratic senator Tim Kaine's successful effort.

Wheeler is former head of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association and the National Cable Television Association. Since 2005, he has been a venture capitalist at Core Capital Partners.

Wheeler would replace outgoing chairman Julius Genachowski, who announced in March he would be stepping down.

Obama was also expected to nominate veteran congressman Melvin Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government regulator that oversees lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If confirmed by the Senate for the FHFA post, Watt, a North Carolina Democrat who has been in Congress for 20 years, would replace Edward DeMarco, an appointee of President George W Bush, who has been a target of housing advocates, liberal groups and Democratic lawmakers.

Obama was expected to announce Wheeler's and Watt's appointments from the White House Wednesday afternoon. The White House officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the appointments ahead of the president's formal announcement.

Watt's nomination comes at a crucial time for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two federally sponsored mortgage-finance enterprises that the government rescued at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 as they teetered neared collapse from losses on mortgage loans gone bad.

Taxpayers have spent about $170bn to rescue the companies. So far, they have repaid a combined $55.2bn.

The Associated Press in Washington contributed to this report