“Next-generation networks are hard to build. It takes a lot of money and effort to lay fiber, install wireless infrastructure, build satellite earth stations, and more. It also requires a reasonably certain business case for deployment, which is all too often hard to prove in parts of the country with sparse population and/or lower incomes.”

American lawyer and telecommunications executive

Ajit Varadaraj Pai is an American lawyer and telecommunications executive. He served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2017 to 2021, and later joined the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital as a partner in 2021. He has been closely associated with U.S. communications policy and industry leadership. In 2025, he became president and chief executive officer of CTIA, the wireless trade association.