November 3, 2025
UPDATE New rules covering licensing for submarine telecom cables will take effect November 26, according to a Federal Register notice. Inside Towers has reported on several suspected incidents of foreign adversaries cutting or attempting to cut these cables. That’s why the FCC voted to pass the changes in August.
The Report and Order adopts new rules to streamline submarine cable application review, protect submarine cables against national security risks from foreign adversaries, and incentivize cable buildout. FCC officials say submarine cable systems carry roughly 99 percent of global internet traffic. There are 90 FCC-licensed cable systems and, as of December 2022, cable landing licensees reported more than 5.3 million Gbps of available capacity and 6.8 million Gbps in planned capacity for 2025.
The Commission also passed a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking suggesting measures to streamline and improve timeliness of submarine cable application review and make other updates to address national security threats to protect submarine cable security against foreign adversary equipment and services, while incentivizing the use of American submarine cable repair and maintenance ships and the use of trusted technology abroad.
“For the past decade private companies have been investing on average $2 billion every year on new construction of undersea cables as the U.S. builds data centers and other infrastructure necessary to lead the world in AI, and next generation technologies,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said at the time. “These undersea cables are more important than ever and that’s why we’re ensuring that the Commission’s rules facilitate, not frustrate, the buildout of submarine cable infrastructure.”