Team Telecom's Laser-Sharp Focus On China

• Published date: 27 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Government, Public Sector, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Mobile & Cable Communications, Terrorism, Homeland Security & Defence
• Law Firm: Taft Stettinius & Hollister
• Author: Sohan Dasgupta

Team Telecom ' known formally as the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector (the Committee) ' is a U.S. interagency committee tasked with reviewing certain foreign investments to abate any national security risk they pose. Team Telecom often reviews telecommunications license applications filed before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by foreign-owned companies that are trying to operate in the United States or are endeavoring to connect the United States to foreign communications networks.

Team Telecom is focused on cybersecurity risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. Composed of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice; the attorney general chairs Team Telecom. The secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of commerce, director of the office of management and budget, U.S. trade representative, director of national intelligence, administrator of general services, national security adviser, assistant to the president for economic policy, director of the office of science and technology, and chair of the council of economic advisers serve as advisers to Team Telecom.

Under federal law, the FCC is permitted to prevent common carriers from constructing new or extending preexisting telecommunications networks unless "public convenience and necessity" so "require."¹ The FCC gets to consider factors like national security, foreign policy, trade policy, and so on. Another legal provision entitles the FCC to "withhold or revoke" international submarine landing cable licenses in order to "maintain[] the rights and interests of the United States ... or will promote the security of the United States."² Team Telecom frequently recommends to the FCC whether to approve the license application in question, reject it, or condition its approval on mitigation measure. Typically, FCC applicants seeking to supply international telecommunications service or submarine landing licenses are referred to Team Telecom if they have 10 percent or greater foreign investment. Additionally, applicants who exceed various FCC foreign ownership metrics are referred to Team Telecom.

On Nov. 30, 2022, Team Telecom recommended to the FCC that it deny ARCOS-1 USA Inc.'s and A.SurNet Inc. subsea cable system's application to add a new segment directly connected to the United States through a Cuba landing station. This would have been "the only direct...