Carter works for the city of Santa Monica, California, where he oversees City Net, one of the oldest municipal-run networks in the nation.
That experience seemed to be a good match for the proposed Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC), which FCC Chairman Ajit Pai created this year.
One of the panel’s stated goals is to streamline city and state rules that might accelerate installation of high-speed internet.
But the FCC didn’t choose Carter — or almost any of the other city or state government officials who applied.
Instead the FCC loaded the 30-member panel with corporate executives, trade groups and free-market scholars.
Crown Castle International Corp., the nation’s largest wireless infrastructure company, and Southern Co., the nation’s second-largest utility firm, have representatives on the panel.
“I wish we could accommodate everybody of course,”Pai said, “but that’s just not possible with a limited advisory committee that we’ve got.”. »