By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) – China Unicom’s U.S. unit warned that a Trump administration proposal to prohibit American telecommunications carriers from interconnecting with Chinese telecom firms deemed national security risks could cause severe disruption to the global communications network.
China Unicom said in a filing on Tuesday with the FCC that the proposal would “harm U.S. companies with significant business and supply chain interests in China.”
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed barring American and other telecommunications carriers operating in the U.S. from interconnecting with China Unicom, China Mobile, China Telecom and others, saying they pose national security risks.
“Chinese-funded telecommunications operators collectively serve as the primary gateways for communications traffic flowing between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies,” China Unicom said.
“A blanket prohibition on interconnection with these entities would fundamentally fracture a critical segment of the global communications network.”
The FCC, which did not immediately comment Tuesday, also said in April it is considering prohibiting Chinese telecoms companies which own data centers in the United States or so-called Points of Presence which sit at internet exchange points from interconnecting with other companies. That would effectively require Chinese telecoms to stop operating those U.S. centers.
The FCC could also prohibit telecommunications carriers from interconnecting with companies that have installed equipment from companies on the list, including Huawei and ZTE.
On October 15, the FCC said it was moving to revoke the ability of HKT, a leading Hong Kong telecom carrier and subsidiary of PCCW, to operate in the U.S.
In December, the FCC banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones and in March banned imports of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the boxes connecting computers, phones, and smart devices to the Internet.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter and David Holmes)
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