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The
4-0 vote to revoke the authorisation first granted in 2001 is
the latest move by the American regulator to bar Chinese
telecommunications carriers from the United States citing
national security concerns. The FCC said Pacific Networks and
ComNet are indirectly and ultimately owned and controlled by the
Chinese government.
Jeffrey J. Carlisle, a U.S. lawyer representing Pacific
Networks, declined comment. In January, he told the FCC that
Pacific Networks and ComNet are owned by CITIC Telecom
International Holdings.
The FCC says the carriers are ultimately controlled by CITIC
Group Corp, a Chinese state-owned limited liability company.
Carlise's letter said the carriers "engage in very limited and
small scale facilities-based operations in the United States
that do not pose national security concerns....The primary
business of the companies is providing retail calling cards."
The Chinese commerce ministry criticised the U.S. actions, and
said China would adopt measures necessary to safeguard the
legitimate rights of its firms.
"The U.S. should stop the groundless crackdown on Chinese firms
right now and the wrongdoings of politicizing trade and economic
issues immediately," Gao Feng, a spokesman at the ministry, said
during a regular press conference on Thursday.
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted the three-year commission
effort to address Chinese telecom carriers. "Taken as a whole,
our actions have strengthened our national security," Starks
said.
In March 2021, the FCC found Pacific Networks and ComNet had
failed to "dispel serious concerns regarding their retention of
their authority to provide telecommunications services in the
United States."
In January, the FCC voted to revoke a similar authorization for
China Unicom's U.S. unit to operate in the United States, citing
national security concerns.
In October, the FCC revoked the U.S. authorization for China
Telecom (Americas), saying it "is subject to exploitation,
influence and control by the Chinese government." Chinese
Telecom failed to convince a U.S. court to reverse the decision.
In 2019, the FCC rejected China Mobile Ltd's bid to provide U.S.
telecommunications services, citing national security risks.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Jing Xu,
Ellen Zhang, Ryan WooEditing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio &
Simon Cameron-Moore)
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