FCC Announces Proposed Rules to Streamline Review of Foreign Investments in the Telecommunications Industry
On June 24, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted unanimously to release a Notice of Public Rulemaking (“NPRM”) in an effort to clarify and streamline the review process for foreign investment in U.S. telecommunications businesses. Presently, when foreign investors seek authorization for such investments, the FCC refrains from making a decision until an ad hoc group of Executive Branch agencies—known colloquially as “Team Telecom”—determines if the proposed investment poses national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, or trade policy concerns. In contrast to other U.S. national security reviews, Team Telecom screening is not a formal administrative process governed by binding rules and regulations. This often makes it difficult to predict what information the different Team Telecom agencies will ask parties to provide or how long any particular Team Telecom review will take. By identifying the information that applicants must provide at the outset, and by setting timelines for the agencies to adhere to, the FCC’s proposed changes may lead to more transparent and faster Team Telecom reviews, helping to bring the FCC’s approval process in line with the other U.S. national security review processes, such as reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”).