The FCC fining Marlink over its non-U.S. employees' access to its domestic infrastructure and customer data (see 2601080025) shows that the agency will pursue robust enforcement "when a clear national security nexus exists," Proskauer foreign investment lawyer John Ingrassia and national security lawyer Eric Johnson wrote this week. The fine and mandatory compliance plan are signs that the FCC and the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector ("Team Telecom") see regulatory commitments about critical communication infrastructure and access to sensitive customer data as "binding and non-negotiable." Companies with obligations under Team Telecom national security mitigation agreements should view them as enforceable commitments and make sure internal compliance procedures are thoroughly resourced, the lawyers said.

Marlink will pay a $175,000 fine and revise its controls of non-U.S. employees' access to its domestic infrastructure and some customer information under a consent decree with the FCC, announced Thursday. The commission said its investigation found that the satellite communications company didn't submit 186 foreign employees to DOJ for vetting before giving them access to U.S. communications infrastructure and customer information, as it was supposed to under a mitigation agreement that was a condition of its FCC licensing. Marlink's plan in the settlement includes setting up procedures for compliance with obligations concerning its foreign employees' access to domestic communications and communications infrastructure. The FCC said the Marlink consent decree was its first-ever enforcement of a mitigation agreement made with the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector ("Team Telecom").

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, aka Team Telecom, told the FCC this week that it’s starting a review of Interactive’s proposed purchase of customers, network gear and other assets from TelNet. No one filed comments on the transaction when the Wireline Bureau requested them (see 2512050020). “The Committee will not be sending further Tailored Questions to the Applicant before starting the 120-day initial review period,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 25-189.

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector has no objections to Google's proposed Taihai submarine cable system as long as it meets various national security commitments, NTIA told the FCC Wednesday. Taihai is a 7,000-km line to run between the Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan and the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The committee is also called Team Telecom.

The FCC posted on Thursday the drafts for all the items teed up for votes at the commission’s Aug. 7 open meeting. Most have a deregulatory bent.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday unveiled a full agenda for the Aug. 7 open meeting, leading off with proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Also included are draft orders that Carr said were aimed at streamlining submarine cable licensing and satellite and earth station licensing. As will be true for the July meeting, cutting regulation will be a priority in August (see 2507030049).

Approval of SES' buying Intelsat should be conditioned on the new combined company complying with a variety of national security directives, NTIA petitioned the FCC on Monday (docket 24-267). The petition was on behalf of the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, or Team Telecom. The proposed conditions include the new company making available, when requested, network-management information or a list of customers that have hosted payloads on U.S. satellites or are using U.S.-located earth stations to connect with SES satellites. The $3.1 billion deal was announced in April 2024 (see 2404300048).

The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector signed off on part of a deal from last year in which T-Mobile will invest $4.9 billion in a joint venture with investment firm KKR to buy fiber-based provider Metronet (see 2407240020). The committee, more widely known as Team Telecom, approved, with conditions, the transfer of international Section 214 authority from Metronet Holdings to MetroNet Systems, said a filing Thursday in docket 24-244.

NTIA joined the submarine cable industry in voicing concerns about parts of the FCC's proposed rewrite of its subsea cable rules. In docket 24-523 reply comments this week, NTIA, the subsea cable industry and allies called instead for using the proceeding to streamline existing rules. FCC Commissioners adopted the subsea cable NPRM unanimously in November (see 2411210006). Initial comments on the NPRM saw pushback from industry (see 2504150002).

The private sector can't take all the responsibility for safeguarding against and responding to major cybersecurity events like the Salt Typhoon data hack of communications networks, House Communications and Technology Subcommittee members heard Wednesday. Putting Salt Typhoon blame solely on industry ignores the government's failure to share information with the private sector, Technology Industry Association CEO David Stehlin said during the roughly 2.5-hour hearing about protecting communications infrastructure. The session also saw communications and national security experts lay out a variety of recommendations for improving U.S. communications network security, from uniform ways to report cyber incidents to actually punishing nations that tamper with U.S. subsea cables.