Buffalo, N.Y. – Douglas W. Dimitroff, a past president and board member of the New York State Wireless Association and partner with Phillips Lytle LLP, is among 29 members of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newly created Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC).  Mr. Dimitroff will serve as the New York State Wireless Association (NYSWA) representative and Chair the Model Code for Municipalities working group.  The BDAC will meet for the first time on April 21, 2017 at FCC Headquarters, 445 12th St. SW, Washington, DC at 10:00 am.

The BDAC will focus on developing specific recommendations on how the FCC can encourage broadband deployment across America.  Issues the BDAC will tackle include further reforms to the FCC’s pole attachment rules; identifying unreasonable regulatory barriers to broadband deployment; ways to encourage local governments to adopt deployment-friendly policies; and other reforms within the scope of the Commission’s authority.

“Being named to the BDAC is a tremendous honor,” said Mr. Dimitroff.  “I look forward to constructive discussions as we continue to seek ways to make broadband deployment a reality across the country.”

Over the past decade, NYSWA has advocated with state and municipal policy makers and regulators to facilitate wireless services for all New Yorkers.  In the past four years alone we have held several conferences on 5G technology, New York City’s mobile policies and FirstNet, among other topics.  We have also collaborated with the State of New York on rural deployments including cellular services in the Adirondacks and participated in New York State Public Service Commission proceedings on competition and wireless pole attachments.  NYSWA’s economic report highlighting the wireless industry’s significant workforce and economic contributions in New York has also been shared with state and local officials as part of our annual delegation to Albany to discuss options to stimulate capital investment in mobile broadband projects.

“On behalf of the New York State Wireless Association’s Board of Directors, we thank the FCC and Chairman Pai for including our association and appointing Mr. Dimitroff as our representative on the BDAC” said Christopher B. Fisher, President of NYSWA. “We support and applaud the FCC for forming the BDAC and its mission to promote state and local policies that further wireless infrastructure deployments.”

Additional information about the BDAC is available online at https://www.fcc.gov/broadband-deployment-advisory-committee.