FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Adds Will Holloway as Adviser

By James Calloway

Will Holloway has joined Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s office as a legal adviser after seven years at the agency, the chairman announced Monday.

Holloway most recently served in the same role for fellow Commissioner Olivia Trusty. Allison Howell and Keelin Ferris also serve Carr as legal advisers, making Holloway the third adviser named in the announcement.

Carr said: “Will began his career at the FCC as an honors attorney, and I look forward to drawing on his counsel on a range of matters.” The release did not assign Holloway to a specific proceeding or give him a new policy portfolio.

Holloway’s path through the FCC

Holloway joined the commission in 2019 as an honors attorney in the Wireless Bureau’s Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division. That same year, he received his J.D. from Catholic University. He earned his undergraduate degree in 2011 from Sewanee: The University of the South.

Before joining Trusty’s office, Holloway served as counsel for the FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force from 2022 to 2025. He provided legal and policy support on matters related to implementation of the Broadband DATA Act and the FCC’s Broadband Data Collection.

His task-force work followed service in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, where he served as an attorney adviser focusing on broadband mapping and wireless infrastructure. That progression gave him experience across the FCC’s collection process, the legal work supporting its implementation and the policy areas surrounding wireless infrastructure.

Under Trusty, Holloway led legal and policy analysis on wireless, space, international, engineering and technology, and public safety issues. His move to Carr’s office brings that experience closer to the chairman, but the announcement does not assign Holloway authority over a program or proceeding.

What does the appointment change for Carr?

Carr gains an adviser with direct experience across five areas identified in the release: wireless, space, international, engineering and technology, and public safety. The practical value is access to someone who has handled legal analysis for another commissioner, supported broadband-data implementation and advised on mapping and wireless infrastructure.

The breadth does not come with a new mandate. Carr did not say Holloway would specialize in all five areas, lead the Broadband Data Task Force or take charge of the collection. The chairman instead described him as a source of counsel “on a range of matters,” a formulation that leaves assignments open.

For wireless operators and broadband providers, the immediate answer is narrow. The announcement changes the adviser roster at the chairman’s office, not an FCC rule, mapping policy, public-safety policy or a collection deadline. It names no operator, vendor or service provider and contains no deployment, subscriber, coverage, throughput or contract figure.

No commercial launch, network investment or regulatory timetable accompanies the appointment. Holloway joins Carr’s legal team with substantial agency experience, but the release gives no indication that he will decide an active case or shape a pending rule. The personnel choice and the policy outcome are separate matters.

Holloway’s seven-year tenure also provides continuity across several parts of the FCC. He has worked in the Wireless Bureau’s Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division, served on the Broadband Data Task Force, handled broadband mapping and wireless infrastructure, and analyzed policy for Trusty.

For Carr, the immediate benefit is a lawyer already familiar with the commission’s processes. The announcement provides no figures suggesting a change in broadband coverage, wireless capacity or public-safety operations, and no contract value, vendor commitment or office budget.

Going forward, the meaningful test is whether Carr assigns Holloway an active role in broadband-data implementation, broadband mapping or wireless infrastructure. The release sets no policy deadline or proceeding schedule for that work and identifies no forthcoming regulatory action; it defines only his new place on the chairman’s legal team and the experience he brings to it.