This past weekend marked the unofficial start of summer, and FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel says the agency remains hard at work and she anticipates a packed agenda for the June 17 meeting. This month, the FCC will launch a proceeding aimed at increasing telecom security by closing a loophole that members of Congress say Huawei, ZTE, and others have been exploiting.
In 2020, the FCC adopted new rules to require U.S. telecoms to build new networks, and at the same time, rip out and replace equipment provided by Huawei, ZTE, and other covered companies that pose a national security risk. Those rules only apply to equipment purchased with federal funding; the same gear can be used if bought with private or non-federal government dollars.
If passed, the measure would close this loophole. The point is “to help keep insecure devices off the market,” Rosenworcel said last week in a blog. The upshot? Chinese-made telecom equipment could lose access to U.S. markets.
If passed, the FCC will require additional national security certifications from applicants who wish to participate in Commission auctions. The FCC also plans to seek guidance on how to create incentives for device manufacturers to adopt better cybersecurity processes.
Federal personnel are also working on ways to speed development of new technologies. The FCC’s equipment authorization program helps to make sure that the latest smartphones, laptops, and other gadgets work as intended and don’t create harmful interference.
To help its review process keep up-to-date, Commissioners will vote on rules to expand opportunities to import, market, and conditionally sell RF equipment, including mobile devices, before completing the equipment authorization process. That would enable manufacturers to gauge consumer interest for new products, according to Rosenworcel. An example would be a manufacturer could now import a small amount of a product to display at a trade show.
It would also help equipment makers “take advantage of new mechanisms for marketing devices, like crowdfunding, while still ensuring that the important goals of the equipment authorization system and security are not undermined,” Rosenworcel said.
Reader Interactions