The Federal Communications Commission voted today to begin what it called a “major, comprehensive review and update of licensing rules for submarine cables” with goals including better protecting that critical communications infrastructure by, among other steps, prohibiting the use of equipment and services sold by companies based in adversarial nations including China and Russia.
The agency teed up the proceeding earlier this month, and today’s unanimous vote by the agency’s five commissioners to authorize a notice of proposed rulemaking puts the process into motion.
Since the FCC’s last review of the undersea cable rules in 2001, “the technology, economics, and national security environments surrounding these systems have greatly changed,” the FCC said today.
The notice of proposed rulemaking will seek public comment on “how best to improve and streamline the submarine cable rules to facilitate efficient deployment of submarine cables while ensuring the security, resilience, and protection of this critical infrastructure,” the agency said.
Among other steps, the proposed rulemaking aims to shorten undersea cable license terms from the current 25-year standard, and to “update application requirements for national security purposes and ensure the Commission has targeted and granular information regarding the ownership, control, and use of a submarine cable system.”
Earlier this month, the FCC said the rulemaking will look to create a process for submarine cable applicants to certify that they have created and implemented cybersecurity risk management plans, and to certify “as a condition of the potential grant of their application” that their submarine cable systems will not use equipment or services on the agency’s “covered list” that it maintains under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act.
Companies on the covered list include numerous China-based suppliers including Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp., and Russia-based AO Kaspersky Lab.
Separately, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel – originally a Democratic appointee to the five-member commission – will leave the agency by Jan. 20, 2025, when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.
“Serving at the Federal Communications Commission has been the honor of a lifetime, especially my tenure as Chair and as the first woman in history to be confirmed to lead this agency,” she said in a statement today.
“I want to thank President Biden for entrusting me with the responsibility to guide the FCC during a time when communications technology is a part of every aspect of civic and commercial life,” Rosenworcel said. “Taking the oath of office on the street outside of the agency during the height of the pandemic, when so much of our day-to-day moved online, made clear how important the work of the FCC is and how essential it is for us to build a digital future that works for everyone.”
President-elect Trump said earlier this month he will tap Brendan Carr, a current FCC commissioner, to become the agency’s new chairman in January.
