FCC proposes rules to reassess foreign-owned US telecom services authority

THE head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday (Mar 29) proposed new rules to periodically reassess existing authorisations for foreign-owned companies to provide telecommunications services in the United States.

The US telecommunications regulator has raised mounting concerns about Chinese telecom companies in recent years which had won permission to operate in the United States decades ago. In 2019, the FCC voted to deny state-owned Chinese telecom firm China Mobile the right to provide US services and later withdrew US authorisations for several other Chinese telecom carriers including China Telecom.

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said that if finalised, the reviews “would involve close consultation” with national security colleagues. The FCC will vote on the proposed rules, which would require foreign-owned licence holders “to undergo a periodic review and renewal process”, at its April meeting.

Rosenworcel said: “It is so important to have the agency regularly review foreign companies’ authorisations to provide telecommunications services in the United States.”

In December, a federal appeals court rejected China Telecom’s challenge to the FCC order withdrawing the company’s authority to provide services in the United States.

In November, the FCC banned agency approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to US national security.

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China Telecom, which had been authorised for 20 years to provide US telecommunications services, had more than 335 million subscribers worldwide in 2019 and has provided services to Chinese government facilities in the United States, according to FCC filings.

The FCC in January 2022 voted to revoke the authorisation for China Unicom’s US unit to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns. REUTERS