(Source: Piotr Adamowicz/Alamy Stock Photo)It took a while, but a group of small and midsized US cable operators and telcos recently got some relief from the FCC's ban on new, foreign-made residential routers.Roughly three months after ACA Connects and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association submitted their request, the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology granted the organizations an expedited waiver for routers that require relatively small hardware changes, including alterations to memory and other components that are being impacted by ongoing supply chain constraints or reaching end-of-life.Under the order handed down on September 29, the FCC waiver essentially permits the organization's members and their suppliers to make necessary Class I and Class II hardware changes to consumer-grade routers and broadband gateways that were on the agency's "Covered List," which includes devices deemed to be a threat to national security. Generally, Class I changes include minor modifications that don't change the RF characteristics of a router, and Class II includes more substantive modifications that may alter RF performance or device emissions.Related:CTIA, USTelecom get some broadband router ban reliefThe one-year waiver granted to ACA Connects and NTCA is good through September 29, 2027. Several other suppliers and organizations have obtained similar one-year expedited waivers, including Arcadyan Technology, Askey Computer, AT&T, CTIA, NCTA, Sercomm and USTelecom. NCTA recently filed a second petition for an expedited waiver.The FCC said the waiver granted to ACA Connects and NTCA serves the public interest "by preventing disruptions to the availability of broadband" for their respective members while still fulfilling the national security aims of the rules. The waiver will allow "hardware upgrades necessary to ensure a continuous supply of consumer broadband routers in the face of persistent supply-chain shortages," ACA Connects and NTCA said in a joint statement.Exp
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