Phonegate Alert denounces the appointment, in April 2025, of Ajit Pai as president and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), the main lobby for American telecom operators. A former member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2007 to 2012, Ajit Pai was then appointed FCC chairman by Donald Trump, a position he held from 2017 to 2021.
A report to the FCC favouring the telephone industry
Under his mandate, Ajit Pai has pursued a policy that is clearly favourable to industrialists. As the online media Fierce network points out :
“During Pai’s tenure on the FCC, the commission has achieved the widest spectrum in history, noted industry analyst Chetan Sharma. Pai oversaw the 2020 C-Band auction, which generated record proceeds of $80 billion and secured an additional 280 MHz of mid-spectrum spectrum for licensed wireless operators. »
Key decision by the D.C. Circuit
In August 2021, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC’s decision, then chaired by Ajit Pai, to maintain radio frequency (RF) exposure limits dating back to 1996 was “arbitrary and capricious.”
This judgment followed a complaint initiated by American organizations, including Environmental Health Trust and Children’s Health Defense. The court asked the FCC to provide a more rigorous scientific assessment of the risks, including to children and vulnerable populations. The FCC under Pai’s leadership has totally ignored the demands of the organizations and the American justice system until today.
Regulatory collusion denounced
This appointment confirms the persistent collusion between regulators and industrial interests. It further weakens transparency and public health in the regulation of telecoms.
Recently, world expert James C. Lin, a former influential member of ICNIRP (2004-2016) and winner of an IEEE 2025 Award, vigorously denounced this general system. He speaks of an “industrial regulatory complex” where the priority given to economic interests seriously weakens health protection.
A clear condemnation of the situation
As Dr. Marc Arazi, President and Founder of Phonegate Alert, points out:
” Entrusting a player who has put industrial interests ahead of health protection with the leadership of a powerful telecoms lobby is a very worrying message about the place given to public health in this sector. We condemn in the strongest possible terms such a conflict of interest exposed by an industry whose only compass is to prevent the Phonegate scandal from splashing it. We have no doubt that the truth of the facts will appear for all to see. »
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