Ajit Pai, who was previously the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is now the chief lobbyist for the mobile industry. Consumer rights advocates have slammed the move, fearing its implications for US consumers, and so have cable companies, whom Pai might be lobbying against.

For context, Pai was the FCC chair during President Donald Trump’s first tenure and worked in his transition team last year. In April, he became the president and CEO of the wireless industry lobby group CTIA after having worked at private equity firm Searchlight Capital after Trump’s first tenure in the White House ended.

Revolving Door Policy in US Politics

Pai becoming a wireless industry lobbyist is yet another prime example of the “revolving door” policy in US politics, where individuals shuffle between the private and public sectors. Private companies often reward former officials for “favorable behavior,” which many critics construe as abject corruption and bribery. Notably, prior to joining the FCC, Pai was the Associate General Counsel at Verizon for two years February 2001 to April 2003.

Pai is far from being the first former government official to land a fancy corporate lobbying job after their tenure, and he won’t be the last. The revolving door is commonplace in the US government, especially in regulatory agencies and the Pentagon. For example, the food and drug industry is replete with former government officials joining private companies to lobby their cause with the government. Critics allege that this leads to actions that favor corporate profits over the people and the law, leading to higher prices and less stringent regulations that can put public health at risk.

Often, the revolving door policy ends up harming the consumers. For instance, for years, banks have hired former government officials who then lobby for lax regulations. The Silicon Valley Bank is a key example here as hired several former regulators, and its CEO, Greg Becker, previously served on the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. SVB eventually failed in 2023, with some blaming the fiasco on lax regulations that the lobbyists for the banking sector pushed for.

Similarly, Boeing had Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general at the DOJ, on its payroll as a consultant while she worked at WestExec Advisors. In her role as deputy AG, Monaco was involved in the decision-making on whether Boeing would be prosecuted for criminal offenses. Unsurprisingly, Boeing was offered a sweetheart deal that was no more than an extraordinarily light slap on the wrist, absolving the company of accountability over the deaths of 346 people. If that wasn’t enough, that consulting firm was co-founded by then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Consumers Are at the Receiving End of the ‘Revolving Door’

Boeing’s sweetheart deal over the two 737 Max fatal crashes, which might have been prevented had the company paid more heed to the safety-related issues that were flagged by insiders, is far from the only case of alleged corruption in recent years.

More recently, Elon Musk (and his companies) benefited greatly from the billionaire’s association with Trump, and as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he eliminated positions and funding at agencies that were investigating cases against his companies (including Tesla and X), including the NLRB.

Some of Trump’s actions were also seen as favorable to Tesla. Trump also eased US self-driving rules, benefiting Tesla, which is set to launch its robotaxi service in Austin later this month. There are fears that the eased rules could end up jeopardizing safety as self-driving cars are still prone to accidents. However, Trump also pushed for ending EV subsidies that greatly helped Tesla so it wasn’t all positive for Musk.

Pai Would Lobby for Mobile Companies

Meanwhile, as the head of CTIA, Pai would lobby for more spectrum for mobile companies, which put him at odds with cable companies. The CTIA pushes for licensed spectrum and is generally opposed to unlicensed spectrum that allows more users on a given band. The dynamic sharing model of airwaves favors fixed wireless broadband services but is not as well suited for wireless networks.

Notably, as the FCC chair, Pai pushed for deregulation and was instrumental in repealing net neutrality rules. The US cable industry welcomed that move as it allowed them to offer preferential treatment to their services and content.

Incidentally, Pai’s regulatory philosophy as stated on the FCC website is “No regulatory system should indulge arbitrage; regulators should be skeptical of pleas to regulate rivals, dispense favors, or otherwise afford special treatment.”

In his new role, Pai would be lobbying for wireless companies that he once regulated as part of the FCC. Among others, he would push for more spectrum for mobile companies, and in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last month, he batted for the FCC to have authority over spectrum licenses and called for “at least 600 megahertz of midband spectrum for future 5G services.”

Pai also argued that the US was lagging behind China in 5G deployment, saying, “the US was determined to lead the world in wireless innovation” in Trump’s first tenure, “that urgency and sense of purpose have diminished.”

Critics Slam Pai for His Lobbying Efforts

Spectrum for the Future, a coalition that includes the likes of Charter Communications, Comcast, and Cox Communications, has slammed Pai, accusing him of “stunning hypocrisy.” In its statement, the group said, “Mr. Pai attributes the US losing its lead in 5G availability to the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority. He’d be more accurate to blame his own members’ failure to build out their networks.”

The group accuses Pai of distorting facts and says that while citing a CTIA-funded study, Pai claims that “wireless networks will be unable to meet a quarter of peak demand in as little as two years,” Verizon’s CEO is on record saying the company is sitting on “a generation of spectrum.”

It said that while the Big 3 cellular companies have 5G spectrum licenses across the US, they still don’t provide reliable service in rural areas. “It’s not a lack of spectrum – it’s The Big Three’s deliberate refusal to invest beyond big cities,” lamented Spectrum for the Future in its post.

As FCC chair, Pai talked about the need to bridge the “digital divide,” as many Americans, particularly in rural areas, don’t have access to quality broadband. Back then, he proposed that the federal government “must enable rural residents to have the same choice for stand-alone broadband typically found in cities.”

All said, the revolving door norm is open to abuse and often leads to corruption. As former regulators lobby for the companies that they once regulated, serious concerns arise over conflicts of interest, as these individuals have a strong network in these agencies and often in the government. With the former FCC chair lobbying for cellular companies, cable companies and consumers are unsurprisingly aggravated as they fear their rights might be compromised at the cost of cellular companies.