The United States Federal Communications Commission has confirmed that all WiFi routers intended for the consumer marketwhich is also used by professionals as well as small businesses and offices, that are manufactured outside the country, pose a risk to national securitywhich has led to the prohibition of its import and sale. The ban does not affect routers already in use, but replacing them can be complicated, since virtually no consumer routers are currently manufactured on US soil.
Core network and large-scale enterprise routers are not on the banned list for home and small office routers, but they are under intensive surveillance by the Department of Homeland Security, forcing companies that supply this equipment to audit every piece of their supply chain.
This measure means that all consumer routers are already on the FCC’s list of regulated products, which includes communications equipment and systems that US authorities consider an unacceptable risk to national security, and that cannot obtain the FCC equipment authorization, necessary for the majority of imported electronic devices to be sold in the country.
According to the text of the US Homeland Security resolution that the FCC cites as the basis for the ban, “Malicious cyber attackers sponsored by states and non-state entities have increasingly exploited vulnerabilities in foreign-produced small office and home office routers to carry out direct attacks against American civilians in their homes.«.
Specifically, the resolution points to the Salt Typhoon attack of 2024, as well as those of Volt and Flax; and assures that the routers were directly involved in the attack, to conclude that «From disrupting network connectivity to facilitating spying on local networks and stealing intellectual property, foreign-made routers present unacceptable risks to Americans«.
Luckily, This new regulation does not revoke the authorization of routers that already have itregardless of where they are manufactured, and these router models can continue to be sold and imported. But given that no new router, not even from companies as well-known and important as TP-Link, Asus or the American Netgear; may be authorized by the FCC unless its manufacturer receives special permissionthe purchasing options for routers will be considerably reduced in the country. The ban will also apply to routers designed in the United States but manufactured in other countries, and vice versa.
To obtain the special permission mentioned, Companies have to request exceptions for each of their router models. Once this is done, the War Department (the former Department of Defense, which has changed its name under this administration) and the United States Department of Homeland Security will be in charge of evaluating and approving what they do not consider to be a risk to national security. So far there are no models on the authorized list.
Consequences for US and foreign router manufacturers
At this point, American companies, such as Cisco or Juniper Networks (now owned by HPE), are the ones that stand to gain when certifying their products. Cisco Systems, for example, already has federal contracts for several of its equipment, and has the muscle and contacts to probably get its routers certified more quickly. In addition, it already has a solid logistics infrastructure in the country, and may be the first to adapt production lines for consumer routers that comply with the new regulations.
Juniper Networks manufactures most of its equipment in Asia, and is in a transition process, with an acceleration of its assembly plants in Mexico and the United States to avoid blockages in its new ranges of routers for businesses, which can also make it easier to obtain router certifications for the home and small business market, as well as the future manufacturing of some of its models.
Without a doubt, the big losers from this measure, in any case, are foreign companies, with TP-Link among the most affected, since they are among the most widespread manufacturers in the small office sector in the United States. In fact, their router models for the professional market are already prohibited from entering the country if they are manufactured in China. Nokia and Ericsson, European companies, have the same problem with consumer routers, since their manufacturing is mostly concentrated in Asia.
Ubiquity It is based in the United States, although they also manufacture in Asia. Along with Mikrotikfrom Latvia, is a favorite of sysadmins, but manufacturing in China and Vietnam, it will have trouble selling its new consumer router models in your country if it doesn’t get government exemptions. However, since they already have a large part of their development locally, they can reorganize their manufacturing and assembly chain more quickly than other brands to manufacture routers locally.
At first glance, this measure by the United States is going to have all kinds of consequences in the sector. It is possible that routers with a US version, manufactured in the country and more expensive, will soon begin to circulate; and with a version for the rest of the world, cheaper and manufactured in Asia. Undoubtedly, this measure will lead to another Price increase for this type of device in the United States, with At first glance estimates of price increases of between 15% and 30% for the costs of relocation to factories in the United States.
Besides, the price of current professional and consumer routerswhich are already authorized by the FCC, will automatically risesince these are the latest models without restrictions and that Americans will be able to Buy without waiting for any breakdown. In short, another measure that benefits large American companies with the ability to pivot more quickly and influence the corresponding official organizations, and that harms consumers, SMEs and service providers; that depend more on routers made in Asia and at a lower cost.
