Chinese telecoms giants in Washington’s crosshairs as FCC weighs fresh curbs

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a ban on Chinese telecommunications companies obtaining American telephone numbers, citing national security concerns and the need to protect domestic networks.

The proposed rules could prevent China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom and other service providers from obtaining numbers through internet-based voice services, the commission said on Thursday.

The regulator is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its November 19 meeting. The measures, it said, were intended to protect against illegal robocalls and other malicious activity while addressing national security risks linked with foreign-controlled communications networks.

The FCC said it also sought public comment on ways to protect telecommunications networks from foreign adversaries, warning that access to United States-based infrastructure and sensitive information by foreign-controlled providers could create “serious national security and law enforcement risks”.

The proposal marks Washington’s latest effort to tighten restrictions on China’s telecommunications and broader technology sector. On the same day, the FCC voted to stop recognising laboratories in mainland China testing equipment that requires US regulatory approval, effective on December 1, 2028.

Beijing criticised the move, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun accusing Washington of overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress Chinese companies. At a press briefing on Friday, Guo said China was “firmly opposed” to the decision and “strongly dissatisfied” with it.

“The US action seriously disrupts normal business ties between Chinese and US companies and goes against the interests of all sides, including US companies and consumers,” Guo said.

“We will take necessary measures to firmly protect our legitimate rights and interests.”

More than 82 per cent of equipment-authorisation applications in 2025 relied on laboratories in mainland China, according to the FCC.

Meanwhile, the proposed restrictions on telephone numbers would apply to providers on the agency’s national-security “Covered List”, as well as companies using equipment or services covered by the list.

The three major Chinese telecommunications operators were added to the list in 2022, when the FCC also cited national security and law enforcement concerns over their ties to the Chinese government.

The South China Morning Post sought comment from the three companies, but none had responded by the time of publication.

The latest proposal builds on a campaign that began in 2018, when a US inter-agency national security panel recommended rejecting China Mobile’s application to provide international telecommunications services in the country.

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The FCC formally denied the application in 2019. Then, in 2020, it expanded scrutiny to China Telecom and China Unicom and subsequently revoked their authorisations.

The regulator’s latest move comes as the three companies report mixed financial results at home. Their latest earnings releases showed that China Mobile’s revenue fell 1.8 per cent year on year to 780.3 billion yuan (US$109.7 billion) in the first three quarters, while China Telecom’s revenue dropped 3.6 per cent to 380.1 billion yuan.

China Unicom was the only one to report revenue growth, up 0.6 per cent to 294.6 billion yuan.