US regulators has denied a request by China Mobile to operate in the US market and provide international telecommunications services, saying links to the Chinese government pose a national security risk.
The company, which the FCC says is ultimately owned by the Chinese government, applied in 2011 to provide international phone service in the U.S.
“Granting China Mobile’s application would not be in the public interest,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “There is a significant risk that the Chinese government would use China Mobile to conduct activities that would seriously jeopardize the national security, law enforcement, and economic interests of the United States.”
Pai said during a press conference that the FCC was also looking at authorizations given years ago to two other Chinese carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom, for U.S. operations. Commissioner Brendan Carr, who, like Pai, is a Republican, had said earlier said the FCC should investigate whether China Unicom and China Telecom should have their authorizations revoked.
The Trump administration has been pushing against China in several ways. It has been pressuring allies to reject Chinese telecom equipment for their networks, with limited success, citing security risks from Chinese telecom giant Huawei. The FCC has also proposed cutting off funding for U.S. telecom companies that use equipment from Chinese companies deemed national-security risks. That could hurt small rural phone companies who have that equipment in their networks. This measure hasn’t been scheduled for a final vote.
