Cable lobby warns FCC: Relax foreign router ban or face chaos
▼ Summary
– The cable industry lobby group NCTA is seeking an FCC waiver to allow component changes in foreign-made routers on the Covered List to avoid broadband service disruptions.
– The FCC’s March update added all consumer routers made partly outside the US to the Covered List, blocking new or modified models from import or sale.
– The waiver would permit suppliers to substitute substrate materials and memory modules in previously certified routers without altering functionality or swapping US components for foreign ones.
– NCTA argues the waiver is needed to manage supply chain shortages and prevent broadband outages for millions of Americans, citing a similar waiver recently granted to AT&T.
– Many broadband subscribers use routers leased or sold by their provider, and the FCC rules now prohibit changes to these devices even for supply chain issues.
The cable industry’s top lobbying organization is urgently pressing the Federal Communications Commission to ease its recently expanded ban on foreign-made routers, warning that without swift action, home broadband services could be thrown into turmoil. The group argues that its members need the flexibility to swap certain internal components in order to keep existing router models in production.
In March, the FCC added virtually all consumer-grade routers manufactured at least partly outside the United States to its Covered List, a registry of equipment deemed a potential national security risk. That move effectively blocked the import or sale of any new or modified router models, impacting nearly every device on the market.
Now, the NCTA-The Internet & Television Association has filed a petition requesting an expedited waiver. The group wants permission for its members’ suppliers to “substitute substrate materials and memory modules” in routers that were already certified before the list was updated, provided those changes “are otherwise consistent” with existing FCC rules.
According to the NCTA, these component swaps would not alter the functionality of previously authorized devices, nor would they replace American-made parts with foreign-made ones. Instead, the changes are necessary to keep production lines running amid ongoing supply chain shortages.
“NCTA requests an expedited grant of this waiver to enable its members and their suppliers to navigate unavoidable supply chain shortages and prevent disruptions in the availability of broadband for NCTA members’ customers,” the organization stated in its filing. It added that “good cause exists to prevent disruptions to millions of Americans’ broadband services.”
The FCC recently granted a similar one-year waiver to AT&T’s suppliers, a move the NCTA argues puts cable companies in the same position. “NCTA’s suppliers are similarly situated” to AT&T’s, the filing noted.
Although many consumers buy their own Wi-Fi routers, a significant number of broadband subscribers rely on equipment leased or sold directly by their Internet provider. The NCTA warned that because all consumer-grade routers now fall under the Covered List, even minor internal adjustments are currently prohibited under FCC rules.
(Source: Ars Technica)
