A Team Telecom rejection of an international submarine cable system landing location comes late in the planning process and would send an applicant back to "square one," SubCom Managing Director-Sales David Robles told an FCBA CLE Monday. Finding a new landing location would require complex planning and negotiations, including re-engineering a submarine network and adjusting the needed length of fiber cable, he said to our Q&A: "It has huge implications for the cable system." The FCC opened a comment cycle Monday on Team Telecom recommendations on a submarine cable landing location application (see 2006220029). Scott Shefferman,Verizon senior managing associate general counsel-international legal, called such uncertainty a top challenge, along with overall uncertainty in changing executive branch review regulations (see 2006170055) and recent changes in FCC submarine cable outage requirements (see 1912270049). Katie Bristow Myers, senior attorney for Microsoft's Azure Networking, said national security changes at Team Telecom, plus broader cybersecurity threats, are among her top worries. She's concerned how quickly the company, a so-called hyperscaler, can replace the capacity it lit up with COVID-19. "We ate about two years of capacity in two months," she said, and that requires new plant construction, though she's pleased to see how stable networks in the U.S. have remained. Recently, traditional competitors banded together to build international submarine cable systems, she said. Ulises Pin of Morgan Lewis said the economic downturn could slow availability of securities financing long-term projects. Verizon's Shefferman said governance and maintenance agreements must last 25 to 30 years and should be written to survive any party's bankruptcy. Kent Bressie of Harris Wiltshire said the submarine cable industry must continue to educate governments, and protecting submarine cables requires support from fishermen. As climate change affects how and where fishing vessels operate, cables on the ocean floor face new risks, he said. Wind energy deployment can interfere with submarine cable systems without proper interindustry coordination, said Catherine Creese, director-Naval Seafloor Cable Protection Office, Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

Requests for confidentiality in response to FCC letters of inquiry "must cover only material warranting confidential treatment under the commission's rules," said an Enforcement Bureau public notice in Friday's Daily Digest. EB doesn't consider casual requests asking that an entire response be kept confidential or those that don't provide a substantive explanation for why particular portions should be treated confidentially. The bureau won't "grant a request that public information be withheld from public inspection," the PN said. It said staff has received too many casual or blanket confidentiality requests in recent years.

The FCC still hasn't explained how small satellite operators losing 60% of their C-band spectrum and getting new restrictions on the rest "is a mere 'modification,'" SSOs ABS Global, Empresa and Hispasat said Friday in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reply (in Pacer, docket 20-1146) supporting their motion for a stay of the commission's C-band order (see 2005180036). They said the accelerated clearing payments already caused "significant competitive harm" with markets responding to the nearly $10 billion in payments the incumbent operators are to receive. The FCC didn't comment.

Stakeholders sought clear FCC guidance to Team Telecom, in comments posted through Friday in docket 16-155. In April, the FCC ordered a docket refresh on an 2016 NPRM (see 2004270017), after President Donald Trump issued an executive order formalizing the review process and setting up an executive branch committee (see 2004060071). The FCC should work with that committee to develop standardized questions along industry-specific lines "to promote transparency, certainty and prompt review of applications involving foreign ownership," NAB said. "Standard questions will reduce transaction costs to applicants and speed review at a time when access to capital is critical." T-Mobile warned if the FCC doesn't impose more certainty, problems associated with former interagency reviews "could continue forward with the new committee, potentially discouraging U.S. companies from accessing foreign capital or putting those that do at a competitive disadvantage," it said. "Make clear that only applications involving new or materially changed foreign ownership will be referred to this new Committee for review. The Commission should also establish mechanisms and deadlines around the commencement of the shot clock and broader review process to safeguard against extensive delay." International providers including GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos America and Hawaiki Submarine Cable USA asked for "predictable timeframes for Committee review of all Commission applications, particularly submarine cable landing license applications," and to "establish standard questions for the Committee’s initial review, and accelerate the process for entities in U.S. ally countries." The committee's first recommendation to FCC involved undersea cables (see 2006170055). Uncertainty and lack of transparency in the Team Telecom review process likely "delayed and deterred domestic and foreign investment in cables landing in the United States, and in the long run could contribute to decisions to land international submarine cables" in Canada or Mexico, Incompas said. Clarity and certainty has long been lacking in transaction reviews, CTA said. "Their assurance has become even more urgent in the current environment, in which the range and degree of national security threats have increased dramatically, potentially resulting in a greater number of transactions and applications requiring review."

USF could go further if the FCC eliminates the "mandatory, anachronistic ETC designation," Commissioner Mike O'Rielly blogged Thursday, referring to eligible telecom carriers. His priority is "ensuring that the Commission brings broadband access to as many unserved Americans as quickly as possible, and that means eliminating regulatory asymmetries, technology bias, and inefficiencies," he said. Competition in USF broadband programs could help cut costs, he said. Some providers aren't ETCs and don't seek the label (see 2005290048). ETC status hasn't proven to be a guarantee of providers’ ability to meet service milestones, O'Rielly said.

Streamlined regulation and emergency spectrum authorization helped open broadband access during the pandemic, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday on a Lincoln Policy Network webinar. "There are some silver linings in this otherwise dismal time." Pai said the current FCC has been the most aggressive in freeing up licensed and unlicensed spectrum, some under temporary authority. "We've tried to do everything we can to remove spectrum constraints on innovation and investment," he said. It's harder now that "we don't labor" in "untilled fields anymore." When working with industry and government incumbents to share or repurpose spectrum, Pai said he asks his staff to tell him "what the engineering is without fear or favor." When the commission makes a spectrum decision, he said, "it's one I ultimately can defend in the court of public opinion, before Congress or in court."

The FirstNet board unanimously approved the first set of investments for enhancing the network for first responders. Members during a virtual meeting Wednesday OK'd Resolution 105, which provides $218 million for initial network upgrades “to set FirstNet on the path to 5G and to expand the dedicated fleet of deployable assets.” 5G will mean improved data rates for first responders, said Neil Cox, chair of the Technology Committee. Low latency is especially important to emergency medical services users, he said. 5G also means access to more spectrum “which brings more and more capacity to improve the throughput,” he said. It will mean more devices, including biometric sensors, motion detectors and high-speed cameras for first responders, he said. Moving toward 5G “takes into account the technology advances that are happening today,” Cox said. “We’re learning new architectures and technologies and how to deploy 5G and as commercial providers worldwide begin to transition to 5G, it’s strategically important that we ensure that the FirstNet network is keeping pace,” he said. “First responders expect the network to evolve and progress with technology,” said Jeff Bratcher, FirstNet chief technology officer: “They did not want to be stranded on outdated networks.” He said FirstNet is also active on 5G standards development within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project. FirstNet is expanding the number of deployables beyond the 72 now available, said Executive Director Edward Parkinson. They have been used at natural disasters and preplanned events like the July Fourth celebration on the National Mall, he said.

Team Telecom recommended the FCC deny OK for the portion of a Pacific Light Cable Network undersea cable system directly linking the U.S. to Hong Kong, DOJ announced Wednesday (see 2006170041). The interdepartmental body cited national security concerns; the commission declined to comment. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks tweeted Wednesday that the FCC "must protect" undersea cables because they are "critical to the future of cloud computing." He responded to our news of Team Telecom's recommendation. Starks added that it's the first Team Telecom committee recommendation. Team telecom found the application raised concerns PLCN would advance the Chinese government’s "goal that Hong Kong be the dominant hub in the Asia Pacific region for global information and communications technology and services infrastructure, which would increase the share of U.S. internet, data, and telecommunications traffic to the Asia Pacific region traversing [People’s Republic of China] territory and PRC-owned or -controlled infrastructure before reaching its ultimate destinations in other parts of Asia." But the DOJ, DOD and Department of Homeland body, formally called the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector, recommended the commission grant links of PLCN connecting the U.S. to Taiwan and the Philippines. That part lacks China-based ownership and is "separately owned and controlled by subsidiaries of Google" and Facebook, DOJ said. It would have a "condition that the companies’ subsidiaries enter into mitigation agreements." April 8, the FCC granted Google’s request for special temporary authority to commercially operate the segment of PLCN connecting the U.S. and Taiwan for six months. The other deployment "would have allowed for the highest capacity subsea cable connection between" the U.S. and Asia and "the first direct connection between" the U.S. and Hong Kong, Justice said Wednesday. "This raised national security concerns, because a significant investor in the PLCN is Pacific Light Data," which is part of Dr. Peng Group, China's No. 4 telecom services provider. Google has worked through established channels for many years to obtain cable landing licenses for various undersea cables, "and we will continue to abide by the decisions made by designated agencies in the locations where we operate,” a spokesperson emailed. Facebook looks "forward to working with Team Telecom and the FCC toward obtaining a full license that is consistent with this petition and the FCC’s views," a spokesperson emailed. China's embassy in Washington, PLCN and Dr. Peng Group didn't comment. There's heightened U.S. scrutiny of China and its trade and IP practices and threats over cybersecurity.

NTIA officials warned Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee leaders that the Trump administration’s long-awaited spectrum strategy (see 1907310033) won’t be ready before the group meets in July, CSMAC members confirmed Tuesday. The delay complicated the work of CSMAC’s Spectrum Strategy Governance Subcommittee, which is developing a report on potential major changes to federal oversight of spectrum, expected to be presented at the meeting (see [Ref:2004220059). The subcommittee was originally charged with working from the strategy to develop the report, CSMAC members said. NTIA didn’t comment. The exact date of the meeting hasn’t been set, but it’s expected to be virtual, CSMAC members said. The strategy has been in the works since October 2018. Last July was the original deadline for completing the document.

Wiley will move to a newly constructed building at 2050 M St. NW in Washington, D.C., said real estate developer Tishman Speyer. Wiley, currently at 1776 K St. NW, is leasing 166,000 square feet on floors three through seven of the new location, an 11-story, 340,000-square-foot building that also houses CBS’ Washington bureau. The move is “the DC market’s largest relocation deal so far in 2020,” said Tishman Speyer.