FCC Issues Order on Security Reviews Ahead of U.S.-China Engagement – By Mariam Baksh (Nextgov) / Oct 4 2021
The commission’s new rule on foreign ownership and investment comes amid an industry call for international alignment on the use of voluntary standards to secure the supply chain of information and communications technology
The Federal Communications Commission unanimously refused requests from telecommunications carriers seeking to escape regulations aimed at securing U.S. supply chains from foreign adversaries based on the location of their operations and the classification of some equipment as “commercial.”
“We reject USTelecom’s request to remove Network Operations Center (NOC) facilities from the definition of ‘Domestic Communications Infrastructure,’” the FCC wrote in a final document to implement new rules for their approval of entities operating in the United States with a certain level of foreign investment or control.
The commission voted Thursday on the order that lays out a series of questions companies with at least 5% foreign ownership interest will have to answer when applying for FCC licenses. Applicants would need to submit extensive personally identifiable information for all non-U.S. persons with access to submarine cable facilities, among other information.
USTelecom, the main trade association for the telecommunications industry, argued such information would change too quickly and prove challenging to obtain given the laws in some foreign jurisdictions. The group said NOC’s located abroad should not count as domestic critical infrastructure and therefore shouldn’t be applicable under the new rule. The FCC disagreed.
