US considers new crackdown on Chinese telecom companies

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it may bar three major Chinese telecom companies from operating their data centers in the U.S. and could ban telecom carriers from connecting with those Chinese carriers.

The FCC said it has tentatively concluded it should prohibit American and other telecommunications carriers operating in the U.S. from interconnecting with companies on the so-called “Covered List” that it says pose national security concerns, including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

The FCC said it was also considering prohibiting Chinese telecoms that own data centers or so-called Points of Presence that sit at internet exchange points from interconnecting with other companies. The agency also said it was considering extending the ban on providing U.S. telecom services to some affiliates of companies on the national security list.

The FCC could also prohibit telecommunications carriers from interconnecting with companies that have installed equipment from companies on the list including Huawei and ZTE.

The FCC plans to take an initial vote on the proposal at its April 30 meeting.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said China “consistently opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and the abuse of state power to suppress Chinese enterprises.” The FCC has aggressively moved to clamp down on Beijing.

On October 15, the FCC said it was moving to revoke the ability of HKT, a leading Hong Kong telecom carrier and subsidiary of PCCW, to operate in the U.S., citing national security concerns.

In December, the FCC said it could bar China Mobile, Telecom and Unicom from connecting to U.S. networks, in an effort to prevent robocalls.

Previously, the FCC barred the three companies from operating in the U.S. In 2019, it rejected China Mobile’s bid to provide U.S. telecommunications services. It revoked U.S. operations authorization for China Unicom, Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet in 2021 and China Telecom Americas in 2022.

On Wednesday, the FCC said it will also vote April 30 on a proposal to bar all ‌Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for ‌use in the U.S., widening a previous action targeting Beijing.

Last Friday, the FCC proposed to ban the import of equipment from Chinese manufacturers on its Covered List. In 2022 the agency barred approvals of new models by those companies.

In ​December, the FCC banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones and last month it banned imports of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the ​boxes connecting computers, phones, ‌and smart devices to the internet.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)