Overview
- The FCC says it has tentatively concluded that U.S. carriers should not interconnect with companies on its national‑security Covered List, naming China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, with an initial vote set for April 30.
- The draft would also block Chinese‑owned data centres and Points of Presence at internet exchange points from linking to U.S. networks, with PoPs defined as sites where carriers plug into shared switches to hand off traffic.
- The agency is weighing a bar on connections to companies that use equipment from Covered List vendors such as Huawei and ZTE, citing risks that compromised gear could expose network data.
- A separate item on the April 30 agenda would prohibit Chinese laboratories from testing phones, cameras and computers for U.S. certification.
- China’s embassy in Washington condemned the plan as an abuse of national security, and the push builds on earlier FCC actions since 2019 that revoked Chinese carriers’ U.S. authorizations and banned imports of new models of drones and consumer routers.