The FCC took a step closer to revoking authorization for three China-based telecoms to operate in the U.S. because of national security concerns. The telecoms are: Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet, as well as China Unicom Americas.
The commissioners voted 4-0 on Wednesday to launch a proceeding to determine whether to end the telecom’s authority to provide domestic interstate and international telecommunications services within the United States under section 214 of the Communications Act. The telecoms are owned and controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China.
The Commission ordered the companies last year to show why their U.S. authorizations should not be revoked. FCC staff reviewed the companies’ response as well as comments from Executive Branch agencies that identified a number of significant national security and law enforcement concerns which the companies have “failed to dispel,” according to the agency.
During the vote, Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said a congressional report last year showed the federal government “has provided almost no oversight of Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies for nearly 20 years.” That’s why she directed the agency’s International Bureau to review Section 214 applications and recommend options for addressing those involving national security risks.
Rosenworcel also offered the FCC’s help to executive branch agencies to conduct a periodic review. Because the national security concerns also apply to cable landing licenses, she’s directed the International Bureau to continue to refer those applications to the executive branch agencies for review. “On that front, I am pleased the applicants, to build a cable linking Hong Kong to California, agreed to reconfigure that system,” said Rosenworcel.
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said international undersea cables carry 99 percent of the world’s data traffic. “Chinese companies and their American partners are looking to increase the number of such cables connecting to the U.S.”
The change in the Hong Kong to California application, he said, happened after the applicants, “came to understand that the Commission and its federal partners will not approve any application that fails to guarantee the fundamental security of American communications from any tampering, blocking or interception by adversary states [that] are bad actors.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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