Telecom Weekly Roundup: BEAD Funding, Cyber Attacks, and FCC Crackdowns

🏆 Top Stories

Telecom Groups Urge Trump to Advance BEAD Program
Broadband industry groups, including USTelecom, sent a joint letter to President Trump urging the administration to eliminate BEAD's 'burdensome program requirements' but also to let the program move forward without further delay. Source: Light Reading

FCC Bars Chinese Labs from Testing U.S. Electronics
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to bar Chinese laboratories deemed security risks from testing electronic devices for the U.S. market. This decision is part of broader efforts to protect telecommunications infrastructure from potential threats. Source: Reuters

U.S. Court Blocks Most Trump Tariffs
A U.S. trade court blocked most of President Donald Trump's tariffs in a sweeping ruling on Wednesday that found the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trading partners. Source: Reuters

Motorola Solutions to Acquire Silvus Technologies for $4.4B
Motorola Solutions announced that it plans to pay $4.4 billion to acquire Silvus Technologies, which designs and develops mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) technology that provides high-speed mesh connectivity without relying on fixed infrastructure and has proven to be reliable in even difficult communications environments. Source: Urgent Communications

🛡️ Security & Infrastructure

NTIA Supports Submarine Cable Security, Warns Against Redundant FCC Licensing
The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) supports efforts to enhance submarine cable security but urges the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to avoid imposing redundant licensing requirements already addressed through agreements with the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the nation’s telecommunications services sector. Source: Industrial Cyber

Trellix Reports Surge in Cyber Activity Targeting U.S. Telecom
Advanced persistent threat actors are escalating efforts against U.S. telecom infrastructure, with Trellix reporting a 45% rise in threat activity in Q1 2025. Source: Trellix

Cellcom Restores Services After Cyberattack
Cellcom announced that voice and SMS services between subscribers were fully restored, although calls to other networks and long-distance texting continued to experience intermittent failures. Source: Wireless Estimator

📅 Industry Events

ATX Networks to Unveil New Energy Modules at Fiber Connect 2025
ATX Networks to Unveil New Areca™ Hybrid Supercapacitor Group 31 Modules at Fiber Connect 2025. Source: Business Wire

Stay tuned for more updates next week.