H.R. 2458: Secure Space Act of 2025

The Secure Space Act of 2025 takes the FCC's existing crackdown on risky telecom companies and pushes it into orbit. If a company makes or provides communications equipment or services the government has flagged as a national security risk — or is affiliated with one that does — the FCC could not license its satellites, let it into the U.S. market, or approve its ground stations.

The whole thing is built around the FCC's Covered List, the official roster of equipment and services deemed too risky for U.S. networks. Huawei and ZTE are the marquee names on it. Until now that list governed phone and internet gear; this bill ties satellite licensing to the same standard.

Sponsors see a loophole worth closing. A company shut out of traditional networks might still try to reach U.S. infrastructure from above — through a satellite license, a market-access petition, or an earth station on American soil. The bill treats space as part of the same security picture rather than a separate lane, and it deliberately reaches affiliates and subsidiaries so a company can't slip through by restructuring or operating under a related name.

The restriction is forward-looking. It applies to licenses, petitions, and authorizations granted on or after the law takes effect, not to approvals already on the books. The FCC would have one year to write the rules spelling out how it enforces the ban. The House has already passed the bill, so the open question is whether the Senate Commerce Committee moves it and how broadly the FCC ends up drawing the line.