US considers new crackdown on Chinese telecoms companies
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said China opposes "the abuse of state power to suppress Chinese enterprises”.
PHOTO: UNSPLASH
WASHINGTON – The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it may bar three major Chinese telecommunications companies from operating their data centres in the US and could ban telecoms carriers from connecting with those Chinese carriers.
The FCC said it has tentatively concluded it should prohibit American and other telecoms carriers operating in the US from interconnecting with companies on the so-called Covered List that it said posed national security concerns, including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.
The FCC said it was also considering prohibiting Chinese telecoms firms that own data centres or so-called Points of Presence that sit at internet exchange points from interconnecting with other companies. The agency said it was considering extending the ban on providing US telecoms services to some affiliates of companies on the national security list.
The FCC could prohibit telecoms carriers from interconnecting with firms 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 Oct 15, 2025, the FCC said it was moving to revoke the ability of HKT, a leading Hong Kong telecoms carrier and subsidiary of PCCW, to operate in the US, citing national security concerns.
In December 2025, the FCC said it could bar China Mobile, Telecom and Unicom from connecting to US networks, in an effort to prevent robocalls.
Previously, the FCC barred the three companies from operating in the US. In 2019, it rejected China Mobile’s bid to provide US telecom services. It revoked US operations authorisation for China Unicom, Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet in 2021 and China Telecom Americas in 2022.
On April 8, the FCC said it will vote on April 30 on a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the US, widening a previous action targeting Beijing.
On April 3, 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 2025, the FCC banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones and in March it banned imports of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the boxes connecting computers, phones and smart devices to the internet. REUTERS
