Telecommunications Industry Coalition Urges Biden Administration to Waive "Buy American" Requirements

A coalition of telecommunications industry lobbyists wants the Biden administration to waive “Buy American” requirements in the recent bipartisan infrastructure law for certain information and communications technologies. The new campaign, led by the Telecommunications Industry Association, argues that the available choices for US-made telecomunications equipment are insufficient to meet the law’s goal of building new, affordable broadband networks in underserved or hard-to-reach regions. “Americans without access to broadband cannot wait for a domestic supply chain to be developed out of whole cloth,” reads the letter sent January 31 from the industry coalition to Commerce Secretary Raimondo, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The lobbyists say a limited opt-out provision for “Buy American” requirements would be similar to previous waivers the telecommunications industry received as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "We believe that a limited, programmatic waiver is a necessary precondition to effective and efficient investment in broadband and will help ensure that every American has access to the digital infrastructure of the future consistent with the ultimate objectives of the IIJA," they said.