Endpoint Security , Regulation , Standards, Regulations & Compliance

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a cable industry lobbying group's request to grant large scale internet service providers with a waiver from Trump administrations' current ban on foreign-made routers.

The Tuesday order administered by the Office of Engineering and Technology, gives internet service providers such as Charter, Cox Communications, Comcast NBCUniversal and others, a limited, one-year waiver allowing manufacturers to continue producing substitute components in already approved consumer routers, without the need for recertification.

The NCTA - The Internet & Television Association sought the waiver for member companies after warning about consumer router shortages and possible supply-chain disruptions caused by a March order to ban foreign-made consumer routers (see: US FCC Targets Foreign Routers in Supply-Chain Crackdown).

The FCC said it was bound by a finding that hackers, including Chinese nation-state threat actors, have used routers in hacking campaigns. Cybersecurity experts have criticized the order, noting that router vulnerabilities are primarily a function of inadequate patching and equipment operating past its end-of-life. Manufacturers have scrambled to obtain individual waivers to continue selling foreign-made routers in the United States. The FCC in May postponed the cutoff date for already-approved routers to receive software and firmware updates to Jan. 1, 2029. Virtually all consumer-grade routers are manufactured abroad.

Federal rules around networking equipment historically don't allow manufacturers to change router components after FCC certification but the waiver for NCTA members will allow organizations to complete necessary updates without repeating the process.

The waiver allows members the opportunity to "substitute substrate materials and memory modules in its previously certified routers," allowing models in production to remain in production.

"We find that grant of the waiver will serve the public interest by preventing potential disruptions in the availability of broadband for NCTA members’ customers, while still fulfilling the rules’ national security and public safety purpose," wrote the FCC in the newly granted order.