FCC Bans China Unicom's Services From US To Prevent Possible Spying Activities

FCC decided to ban the Chinese telecommunications giant carrier CHU (China Unicom) from offering its services in the United States.

The Federal Communications Commission confirmed this restriction decision on Thursday, Jan. 27, revoking China Unicom's services from the U.S.

The proposal to ban the Chinese telecom company received a 4-0 vote in favor of the restriction. Because of this, the American regulators agreed to the voting output.

"Today we take another critical step to protect our communications networks from foreign national security threats," said Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC Chairwoman, via CNN Business Edition.

FCC Bans China Unicom

According to Nikkei Asia's latest report, the latest order FCC against the Chinese telecommunications giant requires CHU to end all its international and domestic interstate telecom services in the United States.

China Unicom needs to do this within 60 days after the publication of the new rule. As of the moment, CHU and FCC haven't released any comment regarding the ongoing issue.

Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission explained that one of the reasons why CHU's services are now restricted in the United States is its owner.

FCC claimed that the Chinese government owns China Unicom Americas. Now, here's where things get serious.

CHU Can Lead To Chinese Espionage?

Rosenworcel claimed that they gathered mounting evidence that provides how CHU and other Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies can put the security of the U.S.-based carriers.

She added that the move was released as the latest action to protect the nation's telecom infrastructure from possible security threats, such as the risk of Chinese espionage (spying).

However, CHU defended its side, saying that it complies with the relevant U.S. regulations and laws for the past two decades. The company added that FCC's imposed restriction against it is somewhat unjustifiable.

FCC recently proposed rule changes to prevent SIM swapping scams in other news. Meanwhile, FCC's anti-robocalls efforts are still not enough.

For more news updates about FCC and its upcoming activities, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis