By Eric Ham
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The United States continues its crackdown on Chinese Telecom companies that began with severe U.S.restrictions imposed on commerce with Huawei.
China Telecom, the largest Chinese telecommunications company, Tuesday had its license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission after operating in the United States for almost 20 years. The FCC took the extraordinary step citing national security concerns.
The telecom giant must now discontinue U.S. services within 60 days.
The FCC stated that China Telecom “is subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight.”
The government regulators went on say, “Chinese government ownership and control raise significant national security and law enforcement risks by providing opportunities” for the company and the Chinese government “to access, store, disrupt and/or misroute U.S. communications.”
China Telecom served more than 335 million subscribers worldwide as of 2019 and claims to be the largest fixed line and broadband operator in the world. China Telecom is said to target its mobile virtual network to more than 4 million Chinese Americans; 2 million Chinese tourists a year visiting the United States; 300,000 Chinese students at American colleges; and the more than 1,500 Chinese businesses in America.
The FCC has closely monitored China Telecom and two other Chinese telecommunications companies. China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks Corp and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC, have been under investigation by regulators, also after U.S. agencies raised national security concerns.
Efforts are currently underway by the FCC to revoke authorization of these telecom companies from operating in the United States. These recent actions to confront Chinese telecommunications companies comes on the heels of the U.S. government barring U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. deeming the Chinese tech giants national security threats. The declaration barred U.S. firms from tapping an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies.
U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Pa) and Tom Carper (D-Del) issued a report in 2020 after a congressional investigation into Chinese telecom companies. The report offers a number of recommendations, including revoking authorizations to foreign companies operating in the United States deemed national security threats.
The two senators hailed the decision by the FCC in the China Telecom case. In a joint statement the senators stated they were “pleased to see the FCC use its enforcement authority to address the threat to our national and economic security posed by China Telecom and ensure our communications networks are secure for all Americans.”
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Contact this reporter: eric@macenews.com
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