Netgear receives conditional approval from FCC for foreign made consumer routers

In a regulatory filing, Netgear (NTGR) provided the following updates regarding the March 23 Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau regulations adding all “routers produced in a foreign country” to the FCC’s “Covered List”. Netgear is the first retail consumer router company to be granted conditional approval under the new FCC regulations applicable to foreign made consumer routers. So long as the conditional approval is maintained, Netgear can launch new consumer routers and update the software on existing consumer routers indefinitely. While Netgear received conditional approval quickly, it is possible that key competitors could also receive conditional approval in the future. Even without conditional approval, Netgear’s competitors are not restricted from selling existing products in the market and, as such, competition in this category remains significant, according to Netgear. The “Covered List” is a list of communications equipment and services that are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons, based exclusively on any of four sources for such a determination and that such equipment or services possess certain capabilities as enumerated in section 2 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019.