FCC plans to ban the world's largest mobile operator from US citing security issues
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will move to block China Mobile, the largest telecommunications company on the mainland, from offering services in the United States. The bet comes in the direction of the White House and must still be approved by the FCC's 9th May meeting.
"Protection of communications networks is crucial to our national security," said FCP's leader Ajit Pai in a statement released this afternoon. "Having reviewed the evidence in this process, including input from other federal agencies, it is clear that China Mobile's application to provide telecommunications services in our country provides great and serious national security and law enforcement."
I don't think that approval of it would be in public interest, Pai continued. "I hope my colleagues will join me by voting to reject China Mobile's application."
China Mobile Ltd. owned by the Chinese government and currently has over 928 million subscribers to mainland China. Despite having a large presence in the home country, the company has a relatively small footprint abroad, including service in Pakistan and a limited presence in the UK. China Mobile did not immediately respond to Gizmodo's request for comment.
The Chinese telecommunications company originally filed a license to operate in the United States in 2011, but has encountered obstacles from the beginning. China Mobile's Legal Advisor even wrote a letter to the FCC in 2013 stating that this "extreme delay" was damaging to US business opportunities
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, located in the Department of Commerce, issued a statement in July 2018 advises the FCC to deny China Mobile's request.
The decision comes at the heels of widespread bans on technical products from the other side of the Iron Firewall over espionage reasons. The US department charged Chinese tech giant Huawei with scams, barriers to fairness and the theft of business secrets back in January, and Huawei opposed his own suit against the US government in March. And the Russian security company Kaspersky has been banned from supplying telecom equipment to the US government.
All US-based technological bans are related to concerns that Russian and Chinese governments may have particular access to data from Americans and US companies by pushing companies like China Mobile or Kaspersky in some way. In recent months, Huawei leaders have countered such criticism by pointing out that US intelligence agencies regularly require compliance through things like CLOUD ACT. The passport in 2018, allows law enforcement agencies to force US technology companies to hand over information if they receive a warrant.
Huawei's rotating chairman Guo Ping went one step further on the stage at the Mobile World Congress in February, taking on the US government mentioning the whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations that the NSA raised lots of data from Americans.
"Prism, prism on the wall, who are the most credible of them all?" Guo said on the scene as a logo for the NSA's controversial PRISM program appeared behind him. "It's an important question. And if you don't understand it, you can ask Edward Snowden." Another day, a new fight against technology in the new Cold War. All we know is that these nationalist struggles over technology will be much more intense as time goes on.
[FCC]
