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ARTICLE · 14 JULY 2026

FCC Adopts New Submarine Cable Licensing Regime

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Submarine cable technology has advanced significantly over the past several years. The point of convergence of the optical and electrical signals for submarine cables has moved from solely beach landing points...

United StatesMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Sean T. Conway
Sean T. Conway
Jennifer Richter
Jennifer Richter
Sharanya Sriram
Sharanya Sriram
Alexandra Van Cleef
Alexandra Van Cleef
Jacob Nash
Jacob Nash
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*Thank you to Jacob Nash, 2026 Akin Summer Associate, for his valuable collaboration on this article.

  • On June 25, the FCC adopted rules to increase FCC oversight over submarine cables, specifically SLTE, to improve the security and resilience of submarine cable systems and minimize national security threats.
  • The rules: (1) establish a new licensing regime for owners and/or operators of SLTE which grants a blanket license, subject to exceptions; (2) adopt further national security-related routine conditions and certification requirements; and (3) presumptively exempt from Team Telecom review applications that meet ten national security standards.
  • Existing submarine cable licensees and SLTE owners and operators have a number of new filing requirements and other obligations, both after the item becomes effective and when applying for modifications, assignments, transfers of control, renewals and extensions.

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