By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-15-21

Signaling it was FCC policies under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai that “secured” leadership in 5G, Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr has unveiled his plan for maintaining that leadership, though with a Democratic chair and, eventually, majority, Carr has only the power to propose, not impose.

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Carr said that back in 2016 (under former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler), the FCC was at serious risk of ceding the race to 5G to “overseas competitors, at the risk of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in economic growth.

Enter Pai, and Carr as his designated point man on streamlining cellular infrastructure buildouts, and the Republican FCC turned things around, he said. » Read More