Sam Sharps joined the Department of Trade & Industry in 1999, and following a secondment to Cable & Wireless rejoined the Department for Business in the summer of 2007. He has specialised in communications policy, having worked on the government strategy for ADSL rollout and led government relations with the UK’s mobile network operators.

In 2008 he led the team supporting Francesco Caio in his review of next generation broadband, published in September that year. He became Project Director on the Digital Britain Report, working with Lord Carter to develop the first converged strategy for the communications sector.