• GL61A covers equipment, fibre, and satellite capacity, IP transit, software, cloud services and network support, including certain transactions involving CANTV and CONATEL
  • GL62 allows contingent telecom investment contracts to be negotiated and signed, but carrying them out still requires separate OFAC authorisation

The fact

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has authorised a range of telecommunications transactions in Venezuela. General Licence 61, issued on 21 August and amended as GL61A on 27 August, covers US goods, technology, software and services used to install, maintain, repair, upgrade, operate or support telecom networks. OFAC says this can include equipment and spare parts, fibre-pair and satellite-capacity leases, IP transit, submarine-cable work, cloud services, network monitoring, billing systems, servers and technical support.

Covered transactions may involve Venezuelan state bodies and companies including CONATEL, CANTV, and Movilnet.

The licence retains restrictions. It excludes transactions involving specified parties linked to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea or Cuba and does not authorise the formation of new telecom joint ventures in Venezuela. Separately, GL62 allows parties to negotiate and sign contingent contracts for new telecom investment, but carrying out those contracts requires further OFAC authorisation.

The assessment

GL61A changes where sanctions clearance sits in a telecom job. For covered equipment, capacity or support, suppliers can work under a general licence rather than seek a separate specific licence for each transaction. Procurement teams still have to check counterparties, ownership and the licence conditions before committing equipment, bandwidth or technical work.

GL62 stops one stage earlier. Companies can negotiate and sign contingent investment contracts, but construction, spending and vendor mobilisation cannot begin until OFAC gives further approval. In practice, that means work on an existing network may be able to move before a new investment project can. For BTW readers, the important distinction is timing. The licences can reopen parts of the maintenance and upgrade pipeline now, while new telecom investment remains one regulatory step away from execution.

What to watch

Watch for named suppliers, equipment deliveries, fibre, or satellite-capacity leases and network-support contracts carried out under GL61A. CANTV or Movilnet upgrades would show the authorisation reaching operating networks. For new investment, the key milestone is separate OFAC approval allowing a GL62 contract to move from signature into spending and project delivery.