HomeNewsChina's Telecom Americas' was banned by US over national security risk

China’s Telecom Americas’ was banned by US over national security risk

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Last Updated on 22/11/2021 by Nidhi Khandelwal

Image courtesy; the guardian

China Telecom Americas’ licence to provide telecommunication services across the Country has been cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission.

China Telecom Americas is the state-owned telecom company’s largest foreign subsidiary. Over 135 million internet customers and more than 255 million mobile subscribers use its services in over 100 countries.

After six US Executive Branch agencies (the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Defense, State, Industry, and the US Trade Representative) petitioned the FCC to prevent China Telecom Americas from operating in the US in April 2020 due to substantial cybersecurity threats, the decision was made.

China's Telecom Americas' was banned by US over national security risk 1
Image courtesy; Channels Television

According to US intelligence agencies at the time, China Telecom’s operations in the United States provide an opportunity for Chinese state-backed threat actors to engage in espionage, allowing them to steal trade secrets and other confidential business information, as well as disrupt and misroute U.S. communications traffic via BGP hijacking.

China's Telecom Americas' was banned by US over national security risk 2
Image courtesy; Times Of India

Last year, the U.S. President also established an interagency committee by Executive Order to advise the FCC “on national security and law enforcement concerns related to certain license applications by companies under foreign ownership or control.”Months earlier, in September 2019, U.S. Senators Tom Cotton and Charles Schumer also urged the FCC to review the approvals of China Telecom and China Unicom that granted them the right to operate in the United States.

Nidhi Khandelwal
Nidhi Khandelwal
Nidhi is a tech news/research contributor at TheDigitalHacker. She publishes about techno geopolitics, privacy, and data breach.
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