Team Telecom Overhaul Unlikely to Be Part of FIRRMA Legislation on CFIUS, Expert Says
Congress is unlikely to overhaul Team Telecom executive branch reviews of foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets as part of pending Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act bills (HR-4311/S-2098), said Harris Wiltshire expert Kent Bressie at an FCBA event Monday. Noting FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly suggested lawmakers consider such Team Telecom process changes in FIRRMA (see 1805150068 and 1804260029), Bressie said it doesn't appear practical to do so in a bill focused on changes to the broader Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
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Bressie said O'Rielly was "very thoughtful" about the process delays and opaqueness that deal applicants face in Team Telecom (DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security) reviews. Bressie believes any changes to give more timetable certainty and transparency will come from the FCC or different legislation. O'Rielly said in April he believed the FCC was close to revising its process for Team Telecom participation in commission reviews (see 1804250045). David Krech, associate chief of the International Bureau Telecom and Analysis Division but speaking for himself, said a Team Telecom proceeding is pending and O'Rielly has "strong views." An O'Rielly aide emailed: "We are working closely on this."
On CFIUS, with specific timetables and technically a voluntary process, "parties decline to file at their peril," Bressie said. He said Team Telecom has no formal procedures and initiates proceedings by asking "triage questions" of deal applicants at the FCC, with reviews lasting from a few months to more than a year.
Jodie Donovan May, assistant chief of the Wireline Bureau Competition Policy Division, said applicants seeking to transfer control of telecom assets under Communications Act Section 214 can help their case by carefully detailing ownership structures, affected service territories (maps are "hugely" helpful) and other aspects of domestic transfers. She said parties can qualify for presumptive streamlined treatment -- including 31-day approvals -- if they show their deals don't: involve overlapping services, increase concentration or raise other competitive concerns. She said the bureau grants "blanket authority" to enter the domestic market for interstate common carrier service but doesn't provide domestic Section 214 licenses. Krech said IB doesn't give blanket authorizations but authorizes parties to provide specific international services; it does provide "global authorizations" geographically.