(Finance) – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of United States voted today for initiate a comprehensive review of licensing rules for submarine cables that transmit information between continents. Since the agency’s last review in 2001, the technology, economics and national security environments surrounding these systems have changed significantly, the FCC notes.
There are 84 FCC licensed cable systems and, as of December 2022, cable landing license holders reported more than 5.3 million Gbps of available capacity and 6.8 million Gbps of planned capacity for 2024.
The proceeding will seek to streamline the agency’s review process. Proposes a three-year periodic reporting requirement for cable landing licenses and, alternatively, seeks comment on reducing the current 25-year license term (or in combination with periodic reporting).
Today’s decision also continues the FCC’s recent efforts to support national security. The Commission proposed new rules that would, for the first time, require companies with international telecommunications licenses to submit renewal applications to the FCC.