The FCC just saved Netgear from its router ban for no obvious reason

The United States’ foreign router ban didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and today may not change that. The FCC has just granted Netgear a conditional approval to import its future consumer routers, cable modems, and cable gateways into the US through October 1st, 2027 — even though the company builds those devices in Asia and has not announced any plan to bring manufacturing to the United States.

Neither the FCC’s announcement nor Netgear’s announcement explain why Netgear was granted the temporary exemption. The FCC only states that the Pentagon has now made “a specific determination” that “such devices do not pose risks to U.S. national security.”

That’s strange, given how the FCC’s original and exceptionally loose justification for the entire router ban was that foreign routers automatically pose a national security threat because of incidents like Volt Typhoon, where Netgear routers were among those primarily targeted by the Chinese hacking group. (The issue was arguably US telecom companies and router owners not following basic security best practices like updating firmware and changing default passwords, not the routers themselves.)

The FCC’s approval is also strange because the agency’s Conditional Approval process makes router makers submit “a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States,” but Netgear has not publicly committed to US manufacturing as of today.

When public companies make material disclosures that might affect their fortunes, they’re legally required to inform investors — and Netgear did do that in this case, submitting these two documents to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But Netgear doesn’t say anything about US manufacturing there. Perhaps Netgear doesn’t think it’s investing enough in US manufacturing for it to be a material disclosure? Perhaps Netgear isn’t investing in US manufacturing at all?

Netgear didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. We’ve asked Netgear and the FCC to specifically answer whether Netgear submitted “a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States” as well as “a description of committed and planned capital expenditures, financing, or other investments dedicated to U.S.-based manufacturing and assembly over the next 1-5 years.” Both are items the FCC specifically asks for when granting conditional approval.

Specifically, the FCC says it has granted conditional approval for these specific lines of routers:

Netgear, Inc.‘s Nighthawk consumer mesh, mobile and standalone routers (R, RAX, RAXE, RS, MK, MR, M and MH series), Orbi consumer mesh, mobile and standalone routers (RBK, RBE, RBR, RBRE, LBR, LBK and CBK series), cable gateways (CAX series) and cable modems (CM series)

As I explained last month, the US foreign router ban is on future routers that companies want to import, sell, and market in the United States, not existing ones. Lastly, Netgear has made a pair of potentially misleading statements today that we should probably address.

In its SEC disclosure, the company suggests that it is free to “update the software on existing consumer routers indefinitely” as long as it keeps getting conditional approvals. But as the FCC has itself explained, router makers do not need any FCC approval for software and security updates, only updates that change the performance of their radios.

Second, Netgear’s CEO is suggesting today that the US government’s foreign router ban was actually about “stronger safety and security standards.” But as we’ve explained, the steps the FCC are taking have nothing to do with safety and security standards — the FCC asks precisely zero questions about safety and security in order to secure a conditional approval — and everything to do with where a router is physically made.