The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-0 on Thursday, October 29, to require companies licensed to carry international phone and data traffic to tell the agency about the facilities they use to move communications across the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders, about owners with stakes as small as 5 percent, and about whether they use service providers controlled by foreign adversaries, a Commerce Department list that, as cited in the draft order, includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia. The rules also require these carriers to follow baseline cybersecurity practices such as those of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and bar them from using certain equipment or services on the FCC's Covered List of products deemed national security risks. The agency says the changes "strengthen border security by enhancing transparency and disclosures." Industry groups had objected to parts of the plan in the record: the draft order says industry commenters "widely oppose" lowering the ownership reporting threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent as burdensome, and one trade group said the proposal "offers no evidence" that a 5 percent owner can control a company. The draft answered that a party can exert influence without a majority stake and that the ownership information is "routine in many contexts and not unduly burdensome." Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty all voted for the rules.
What carriers must now report
The rules apply to holders of "international section 214" authorizations, the FCC licenses required to provide telecommunications service between the United States and other countries. According to the FCC's announcement, applicants and license holders must provide information about facilities used to carry communications across the borders with Mexico and Canada; applicants must report owners at a 5 percent threshold, identify the services and geographic markets they serve or plan to serve, and say whether they use or will use third-party service providers controlled by foreign adversaries. License holders must also begin service within a year of approval. The draft version released on October 8 defined cross-border facilities to include data centers, points of presence (sites where one network connects to others) and private interconnection points where traffic enters or leaves the United States by land, narrowed at the suggestion of the wireless industry group CTIA, and exempted U.S. publicly traded companies from parts of the 5 percent reporting. The adopted text had not been posted as of Friday morning, so the final details may differ.
What the FCC found, and the objections
The order also reported the results of a one-time survey the FCC ordered in 2023: about 1,235 of roughly 7,000 license holders in its database responded, four reported ownership by a foreign adversary, and two companies known to have such ownership did not respond. The draft order set up a process to revoke the licenses of holders that ignored that survey. In comments on the proposal, industry commenters said "companies do not typically maintain records" of 5 percent owners and that minority stakes do not confer control; INCOMPAS, a trade group for competitive carriers and technology companies, said the proposal "offers no evidence that someone who owns a five percent minority stake (or a collection of such owners) can overcome the majority owners' rights and control the direction of a company." Some commenters also argued that asking about facilities used for services the FCC does not regulate as common carriage, the phone-company category of service offered to the public on equal terms that section 214 covers, went beyond its authority. The draft order rejected these arguments: it said a party can exert influence without a majority stake, that it was "not directly regulating non-common carrier services" but requiring the information in connection with its regulation of common carrier services, and that the information is needed to assess risks to critical infrastructure.
The commission also opened a further rulemaking on tougher measures, including a presumption against licensing certain "untrusted" applicants, bans on certain arrangements, such as capacity leases, with untrusted entities, more cybersecurity and physical-security certifications, and a ban on access to U.S. communications infrastructure by people located in foreign adversary countries. Those proposals are open for public comment and have not been adopted.
This article reflects reporting through Friday evening, October 30, 2026. Sources: Federal Communications Commission, "FCC Bolsters Security for Cross-Border Communications" (news release, October 29; FCC 26-74); FCC, fact sheet and public draft of the Evolving Risks Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, October 8, IB Docket No. 23-119 and MD Docket No. 23-134.
