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America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will block the entry of the world’s largest mobile company – China Mobile – into the US market, citing security concerns.
„It is clear that China Mobile’s application to provide telecommunications services in our country raises substantial and serious national security and law enforcement risks,“ FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement today.
The block on China Mobile will be voted on by the FCC’s commissioners on May 9, though it is certain to pass given that three of the five bods overseeing the watchdog are Republican and will vote as a united block.
China Mobile has the largest number of mobile phone customers in the world – around 900 million – and first applied for permission to enter the US market in 2011. The company is owned by the Chinese government and has a US subsidiary based in Delaware.
China Mobile wants approval from the FCC to become a „common carrier“ in the States, meaning that it will be able to carry international voice traffic between America and other countries as well as connect to the US telecoms network. It told the FCC that it did not intend to offer its own telephone services within the US – only extend its current service for existing customers into the Land of the Free.
But Pai has said no, claiming that approach represents a threat. „Safeguarding our communications networks is critical to our national security,“ he argued, claiming to have „reviewed the evidence in this proceeding, including the input provided by other federal agencies.
