China Telecom company has been banned in America, based on the vote result of the US communications regulator, once again due to national security concerns. Tensions between the two countries have been enhanced.Following the decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), China Telecom, which has operated in America for over 20 years, must end the services in America within 60 days.
With over 370 million subscribers in mainland China, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom are three largest telecommunication companies in China. However, the main users of China Telecom in America are Chinese students and immigrants from China.
It is not the first time that the American government has taken actions to stop the services of Chinese technology companies. Since 2019, around 60 companies have been banned such as Huawei, and China Mobile Limited.
American companies are not allowed to use the service and product from a list of companies that would bring security risk.
The FCC believes that China Telecom “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight”.
The US government also persuaded their allies such as Australia and the UK, to exclude Chinese companies for building 5G services. China also recently stopped LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, from operating in China.
The tension between two largest economies in the world is becoming tougher, while the main competition is based on the core technology. In recent years China has put more effort into developing technology, especially after the US government stopped allowing their companies to sell hardware and software to another Chinese owned telecom company ZTE.
Even though the FCC pointed out that China Telecom couldn’t pass the regulation, a spokesperson from China Telecom in America responded saying that the FCC’s decision was “disappointing” and that it would “pursue all available options while continuing to serve our customers.” The Chinese embassy hasn’t given any comment.