Petition to Adopt Conditions PETITION by U.S. Department of Justice SCL-T/C-20161220-00026 ATH American Samoa P

ATH American Samoa P

PETITION submitted by U.S. Department of Justice

Petition to Adopt Conditions

2018-11-13

This document pretains to SCL-T/C-20161220-00026 for Transfer of Control on a Submarine Cable Landing filing.

IBFS_SCLTC2016122000026_1572172

Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of )
)
Amper, S.A., Transferor ) IB Docket No. 16-420
)
and ) File No. ITC-T/C-20161220-00377
Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited, ) SCL-T/C-20161220-00026
Transferee )
) ULS File No. 0007584554
Application for Consent to Transfer )
Control )
of the Cable Landing License for the )
American Samoa-Hawaii Cable System )

PETITION TO ADOPT CONDITIONS TO
AUTHORIZATIONS AND LICENSES

The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), with the concurrence of the U.S. Department of

Homeland Security (“DHS”) and the U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”, and, with DOJ and

DHS, the “Agencies”), submits this Petition to Adopt Conditions to Authorizations and Licenses

(“Petition”), pursuant to Section 1.41 of the Federal Communications Commission

(“Commission”) rules.1 Through this Petition, DOJ advises the Commission that the Agencies

have no objection to the Commission approving the authority sought in the above-referenced

proceedings, provided that the Commission removes an existing condition on the authorizations

and licenses related to File Number SCL-T/C-20161220-00026 and subsequently conditions its

approval, with respect to all of the above-referenced authorizations and licenses, on the

commitment of Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited (“ATH”) to abide by the undertakings

set forth in the November 12, 2018, Letter of Assurances (“November 2018 LOA”) and the

November 12, 2018, Letter of Commitments (“LOC”), attached hereto as Attachments A and B.

1
47 C.F.R. § 1.41.

Also attached as Attachment C is a Termination Agreement irrevocably terminating an earlier

agreement executed in relation to File Number SCL-T/C-20161220-00026 that is no longer

necessary as a condition on that license.2

The above-referenced proceedings involve applications seeking Commission approval to

transfer control of: Section 214 authority (File Number ITC-T/C-20161220-00377) and a fiber

optic submarine cable system connecting the United States, America Samoa, and Independent

Samoa (File No. SCL-LIC-20080814-00016).

The Commission has long recognized that law enforcement, national security, and public

safety concerns are part of its public interest analysis, and has accorded deference to the views of

other U.S. government agencies with expertise in those areas. See In the Matter of Comsat

Corporation d/b/a Comsat Mobile Communications, etc., 16 FCC Rcd. 21,661, 21707 ¶ 94

(2001).

After discussions with representatives of ATH, Amper S.A., and several entities owned

or controlled by Amper (American Samoa Hawaii Cable, LLC, Samoa American Samoa Cable,

LLC, American Samoa License, Inc., and AST Telecom, LLC d/b/a Blue Sky Communications)

in connection with the above-referenced proceedings, the Agencies have concluded that the

commitments set forth in the November 2018 LOA and 2018 LOC will help ensure that those

agencies with responsibility for enforcing the law, protecting the national security, and

2
On May 25, 2018, DHS filed a petition with the Commission advising that the Agencies had no
objection to the Commission granting any pending applications in relation to File Number SCL-
T/C-20161220-00026 so long as the Commission: (a) removed any existing conditions on the
related authorizations and licenses; and (b) subsequently conditioned such grant on compliance
by ATH and its successors with a May 7, 2018, Letter of Assurances (“May LOA”). In relation
to the request to remove any existing conditions, DHS also filed an executed Termination
Agreement that irrevocably terminated DHS’s and DOJ’s rights with respect to a 2009 national
security agreement (“2009 NSA”). Subsequent to DHS’s May 25, 2018, petition, the Agencies
identified certain additional national security, law enforcement, and/or public safety concerns
that are now resolved with ATH pursuant to the November 2018 LOA. The November 2018
LOA entirely supersedes and replaces the May LOA sent to DHS, and thus this Petition
supersedes DHS’s May 25, 2018, (now moot) petition.
2

Document Created: 2018-11-13 16:40:04
Document Modified: 2018-11-13 16:40:04

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