TMTPOST -- The U.S. Commerce Department is intensifying efforts to impose further restrictions on China Telecom, seeking to ban its remaining units in the United States.
According to a report from The New York Times, the U.S. government is tightening its stance on Chinese companies, particularly after recent cybersecurity breaches targeting U.S. mobile carriers. Last week, the U.S. government issued a notice to China Telecom Americas, the American subsidiary of the Chinese telecommunications giant, citing a preliminary finding that the company’s presence in U.S. networks and its cloud services could pose a national security risk.
China Telecom Americas has been given 30 days to respond, and the final decision on whether to impose a ban will be determined by the incoming administration. This latest move follows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revoking the company’s licenses to provide ordinary phone services in the U.S. during the Biden administration, a ban that was upheld a year later after an appeal.
The crackdown comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China. Last month, the U.S. government attributed a significant hack against T-Mobile to China, allegedly conducted by a group named Salt Typhoon. The group was reportedly able to listen to real-time audio calls and navigate across different telecom networks. Similar cyberattacks against other U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies have also been reported.
Senator Mark R. Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, referred to the breach as the "worst telecom hack in our nation’s history." Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technologies, emphasized that the level of risk posed by Chinese technologies in U.S. networks is no longer deemed acceptable.
In addition, earlier this year, the FCC ordered the U.S. units of China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile to cease broadband operations, and in 2022, the U.S. banned approvals of telecommunications equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, citing national security concerns.
These actions are part of a broader U.S. strategy to limit the influence of Chinese tech companies, with former President Donald Trump signing an executive order in 2019 to block U.S. companies from buying telecommunications equipment from foreign companies deemed to be a national security threat.
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