A Smoother Path To More Offshore-Owned Wireless Licenses?

Good news for non-WTO investors that want a piece of the U.S. wireless action: They now will be treated the same as WTO members. At its open meeting earlier today, the FCC streamlined its policies and procedures for reviewing foreign ownership of U.S. companies with common-carrier wireless licenses and certain aeronautical radio licenses. The commish says the changes cited in the Foreign Ownership Second Report and Order (FCC 13-50) “will reduce the number of hours that applicants and licensees spend in preparing and submitting required filings, while ensuring the Commission continues to receive the information it needs to fulfill its public interest obligations.” In addition, the R&O reduces costs and ratchets “transparency and predictability” in foreign-ownership filing requirements. The big takeaway is that new review-process rules also make it easier for foreign investors to hike their U.S. wireless stakes in the future.