The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved measures concerning subsea cables and environmental impact in support of US network modernization.

The agency also streamlined space-licensing processes to galvanize the ground-station-as-a-service (GSaaS) model.

As part of various rulings issued this week, the regulator will undertake a comprehensive review of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), which mandates federal agencies to assess environmental impacts before starting infrastructure projects.

The FCC’s directive said it will review its environmental regulations to bring them in line with the amended NEPA statute, and streamline federal permitting while clarifying its rules. It will also revisit its National Historic Preservation Act regulations and other elements of its environmental policies.

Noting recent actions by the FCC to push ahead with spectrum auctions, commissioner Olivia Trusty stated: “Spectrum alone is not enough. Those investments will not deliver value if the FCC’s infrastructure siting rules slow down deployment.

“Although we’ve made progress on 5G deployment, some international benchmarks show the US trailing global competitors like China, which have aggressively streamlined infrastructure siting policies and tied wireless deployment directly to national industrial strategy.”

Trusty was confirmed to the FCC in June.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr claimed major infrastructure projects requiring an environmental impact statement under NEPA take, on average, 4.5 years to complete.

“Notably, just three percent of those studies are completed in less than a year – barely shorter than the time it took to build the entirety of the Empire State Building, almost a century ago,” Carr said.

The FCC stressed its NEPA review – which comes after its recent rules to accelerate copper-to-fiber transition – would not ignore the environmental and historical impacts of wireless infrastructure buildout.

Subsea security ramp-up

The FCC also adopted new rules concerning submarine cable infrastructure buildout and security, with the threat of China raised as it was in the NEPA item.

Following last month’s plans to ban US companies from using Chinese technology and equipment in subsea cables, there will now be a presumption of denial for license applications affiliated with certain foreign adversaries, restrictions on capacity-leasing agreements with those entities, and a ban on the use of “covered” equipment.

Alongside the introduction of cybersecurity and physical security requirements, the FCC’s license review process will also be expedited.

“As the US builds the data centers and other infrastructure necessary to lead the world in AI and next-gen technologies, these cables are more important than ever,” Carr said. “In recent years, we have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened by foreign adversaries, like China. To mitigate those threats, this item proposes and seeks comment on various measures to protect submarine cable security against foreign adversary equipment and services [incentivizing] the use of American submarine cable repair and maintenance ships.”

The FCC cited President Trump’s America First Investment Policy Memorandum in its decision, coming as the US President called for the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-BuTan amidst alleged – and refuted – links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

FCC cuts space red tape

China was not mentioned in the FCC’s acceleration of hybrid satellite-terrestrial networks through GSaaS, a model that allows satellite operators the ability to send and receive signals without building their own ground infrastructure.

In a move that could allow telecom operators to tap the growing space economy for cost-effective backhaul and new connectivity services, the FCC will allow multiple satellite systems to share the same neutral-host ground station.

The order creates a new baseline licensing process for ground stations that no longer requires identifying a specific satellite, with only a simple FCC notification needed for each new link.

Rules for minor satellite changes are being eased, with more modifications allowed without approval and a 30-day limit on most renewals.

The agency is also ending temporary authority requests for geostationary satellites and dropping requirements for printing and storing paper applications.

Industry trade group Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), which includes AT&T and Verizon as members, expressed concern that the ruling “may result in increased interference and impact the operations of other providers,” with a negative impact on 5G deployment.

CTIA called on the FCC to exclude high-band spectrum shared with terrestrial 5G from the proposed baseline licensing process, with those concerns seemingly yet to be addressed by the FCC.

The FCC space ruling comes after satellite communications provider EchoStar unveiled plans for a new low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation to provide direct-to-device communications.

The deployment notably includes use of its 2 GHz spectrum licenses (AWS-4), which are the subject of an ongoing feud with the FCC. EchoStar holds rights to spectrum in that band worldwide, with calls to open it for broader usage.