The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has revoked the authorization of China Telecom, the largest Chinese telecommunications company. A move that effectively closes an era: the Asian company has been authorized to provide telecommunications services in the US for almost 20 years. But in April 2020, the Commission warned it could shut down the U.S. operations of three state-controlled Chinese telecom companies, citing national security risks, including China Telecom Americas as well as China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks. Corp and its subsidiary ComNe.
According to the FCC, Chinese companies “have failed at this stage to allay serious concerns” about their US authorizations. For some time, the FCC has adopted a hard line against Chinese telecommunications, stressing that several Asian operators “also have data centers operating in the United States“. Also for this reason, as early as May 2019 the FCC had voted unanimously to deny China Mobile the right to operate in the US.