FCC Dives In To Sink Chinese Grip On Undersea Internet Cables

Uncle Sam has decided it's time to free US-connected undersea cables from Chinese influence.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr announced on Wednesday that the Commission would vote next month on a rule that will not only secure undersea cables from America's international adversaries, but also pump cash into a buildout of submarine infrastructure. As is the case with most tech investments in 2025, this is being done "to accelerate the buildout of AI infrastructure."

"As the US builds out the datacenters and other infrastructure necessary to lead the world in AI and next-gen technologies, these cables are more important than ever," Carr said in a canned statement, noting that submarine cables carry 99 percent of the world's internet traffic, and are facing increased threats from countries like China and Russia.

According to the announcement yesterday, the rule proposes to issue default denials to "certain foreign adversary-controlled" applicants for cable construction, operation or leasing, and would prohibit the use of "covered" equipment in subsea cable infrastructure. How the FCC is defining covered equipment here is unknown. The proposed rule isn't public and the Commission declined to provide us with a copy or provide answers to any questions we asked.

That said, the category of covered equipment may end up looking something like the rip-and-replace order signed in 2021 that directed telecoms to tear out networking equipment made by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE.

• China orders its telcos to rip and replace US chips with homegrown silicon by 2027
• Hyperscalers are carving up the ocean floor into private internet highways
• FCC on the prowl for Huawei and other blocked Chinese makers in America
• Submarine cable resilience board announced on same day maybe-cut-by-China Baltic cable repaired

The feds' attempt to keep foreign tech and influence out of US-connected subsea cables won't be simple, judging from the slow walk of the rip-and-replace program.

Despite kicking off four years ago, the FCC is still trying to make rip and replace happen. As of July 2024, the Commission was warning that most telcos were a long way off from meeting the program's demands, and were coming up billions short to fund the effort. Biden administration FCC chief Jessica Rosenworcel urged a spectrum auction to raise funds for rip and replace, which still has yet to happen. The FCC was only cleared to restart spectrum auctions with the passage of Trump's budget bill earlier this month.

Submarine cables have been a hot topic over the past few years as they've come under attack, with everyone from China and Russia to Yemeni Houthi rebels allegedly getting in on the act. China hasn't restricted itself to cable-cutting operations in local waters, with a ship from the East Asian nation accused of damaging a cable in the Baltic Sea late last year as well.

Sweden deployed naval forces to patrol the Baltic earlier this year to head off cable-cutting attacks. And China is reportedly developing a device specifically designed to sever subsea cables. It's able to operate at twice the maximum subsea cable depth, meaning even the deepest cables are no longer safely out of reach. ®