The FCC has expanded the list of foreign companies whose tech is not welcome in U.S. networks.

The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act required the FCC to identify tech companies -- and their subsidiaries and affiliates -- whose products and/or services posed a national security threat.

The FCC said Friday that AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp., and China Mobile International USA Inc. have all been added to the "covered list" the FCC must publish and maintain.

Also: Huawei Says FCC Ban Could Be Unconstitutional

Huawai and ZTE were the first to make the list along with Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision, and Dahua. This week's trio marks the second wave of untrusted companies by the reckoning of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

“Today’s action is the latest in the FCC’s ongoing efforts, as part of the greater whole-of-government approach, to strengthen America’s communications networks against national security threats, including examining the foreign ownership of telecommunications companies providing service in the United States and revoking the authorization to operate where necessary," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

“The FCC’s decision to add these three entities to our Covered List is welcome news," said Commissioner Brendan Carr. "The FCC plays a critical role in securing our nation’s communications networks, and keeping our Covered List up to date is an important tool we have at our disposal to do just that....I applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel for working closely with our partners in the Executive Branch on these updates. As we continue our work to secure America’s communications networks, I am confident that we will have more entities to add to our Covered List." ■

Team Telecom, the government entity that vets foreign participation in U.S. communications networks for possible national security issues, has signaled it is serious about wanting the FCC to refuse requests for direct subset cable connections between the U.S. and China. 

It has recommended that the FCC deny Pacific Light Cable Network's application (PCLN) for what would be the first such connection between the U.S. and Hong Kong. There are other similar applications that Team Telecom has suggested raise similar issues. 

Related: Senate Says FCC Needs Foreign Telecom Review Standards 

But it did say the FCC could approve PCLN connections between the U.S. and Taiwan and the U.S. and the Philippines, which sections of the PCLN network would be operated by subsidiaries of Google and Facebook, respectively. 

The Justice Department back in April signaled that it would not oppose the request by Google, through its GU Holdings, based on a Provisional National Security Agreement that includes notice obligations, security guarantees and reporting duties, among others. Google has committed to diversify interconnection points in Asia and deliver traffic as close to its ultimate destination "as is practicable."  

Team Telecom said the PCLN direct connection to Hong Kong raised national security concerns given PCLN's relationship with the Chinese government's intelligence and security services, given that subsea fiber optic cables are the "backbone" of global delivery of internet, voice and data, and given that "PLCN’s high capacity and low latency would encourage U.S. communications traffic crossing the Pacific to detour through Hong Kong before reaching intended destinations in other parts of the Asia Pacific region." 

It said it was not in the U.S.'s security interest to approve cable landing in China when the government has demonstrated the intent to acquire personal data from U.S. persons. 

The Team Telecom review committee comprises members from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division's Foreign Investment Review Section, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. 

Back in April, Team Telecom recommended that the FCC revoke China Telecom's authorizations to provide telecom service in the U.S. based on similar national security concerns. The FCC denied the authorization last month. 

The Senate Investigations Subcommittee said the FCC needs to come up with a "clear standard" for revoking a foreign telecom carrier's authorization to operate in the U.S. 

Related: FCC Flags More Chinese Telecoms 

"Telecommunications companies must understand the circumstances under which authorizations could be revoked and be afforded due process to challenge potential revocation," the committee said in a new report, "Threats to U.S. Networks: Oversight of Chinese Government-Owned Carriers." 

The FCC is currently reviewing whether China Unicom America, China Telecom America, and ComNet should be able to continue to hold licenses to operate in the U.S. (connect with U.S. networks). 

The FCC said Friday (April 24) that it had issued "show cause" orders directing them to justify why the FCC should not start proceedings to revoke their licenses. 

Related: China Telecom Has Some Explaining to Do, Says FCC

But while urging due process for foreign telecoms, the committee report also concludes that: "[t]he Chinese government engages in cyber and economic espionage efforts against the United States and may use telecommunications carriers operating in the United States to further these efforts." 

It concludes that the national security concerns over China Mobile USA, whose license the FCC voted earlier to revoke, apply to China Unicom America, China Telecom America, and ComNet, which the committee said are all Chinese state-owned carriers. 

Asked about the report Tuesday (June 9), FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC was continuing to work on those reviews, and was giving them due process that would not be available in China. 

In a letter to the committee, China Unicom Americas (CUA) said it is "not subject to the exploitation, influence, or control of the Chinese government," adding "CUA itself has never received, and would not accept, any instructions from the Chinese government on how to run its operations. "

CUA has told the FCC that if it evaluates the company on the merits and facts, it will find that the telecom is a stand-alone operation that adheres to U.S. law, rules and regulations and poses no threat to U.S. network security. 

Both the FCC and the Department of Justice are looking for answers from China Telecom (Americas) on whether it is trying to suppress some information in the government's review of its ability to operate in the U.S. 

Related: FCC Flags More Chinese Telecoms 

In April, the FCC issued a "show cause" order to China Telecom (Americas) directing it to justify why the FCC should not start proceedings to revoke its licenses to operate in the U.S., something the Executive Branch has recommended the FCC to do. 

That was out of concern that current or potential Chinese government influence could makes the company a national security threat to the network security of critical 5G nets in the U.S.

On May 1, according to the FCC, China Telecom (Americas) asked the FCC to disclose any FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)-related material the FCC had obtained in its review. On May 19, the Justice Department said it was unclear whether China Telecom Americas was trying to challenge the legality of that FISA surveillance and "suppress" it from consideration in the FCC's review of the company's license to operate in the U.S. 

DOJ asked the FCC to get and answer, and the FCC is now asking the company to do so by June 8, when China Mobile (Americas') response to the FCC's show cause order is due.

Building on its rejection of China Mobile USA's applications to provide telecom services between the U.S. and other countries, the FCC is suggesting other such license applications are suspect, too. 

The FCC said Friday (April 24) that it has issued "show cause" orders to China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet directing them to justify why the FCC should not start proceedings to revoke their licenses to operate in the U.S. as well. 

Related: New Bill Pumps $750 Into U.S. Telecom 

The Executive Branch has recommended that China Telecom Americas' license be revoked. 

As with ZTE and Huawei, whose tech the FCC has tentatively found to be suspect and in need of replacing, the FCC's issues with China Mobile were concerns that current or potential Chinese government influence could make them a national security threat to the network security of critical 5G nets in the U.S. 

Related: Huawei Opposes FCC Rip and Replace 

Foreign entities providing telecommunications services—or seeking to provide services—in the United States must not pose a risk to our national security,” said FCC chairman Ajit Pai. “The Show Cause Orders reflect our deep concern—one shared by the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State and the U.S. Trade Representative—about these companies’ vulnerability to the exploitation, influence, and control of the Chinese Communist Party, given that they are subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned entities. We simply cannot take a risk and hope for the best when it comes to the security of our networks.” 

The companies have 30 days to respond to the FCC letters.  

FCC chair Ajit Pai is recommending that the FCC deny an application by state-owned China Mobile to interconnect with U.S. phone networks, reflecting supply chain concerns the FCC also has with Chinese telecoms ZTE and Huawei.

In related news, a senior FCC official said that the FCC is awaiting input from the executive branch before acting on its broadband buildout subsidy supply chain item targeting telecoms it concludes are security risks, likely including ZTE and Huawei.

The China Mobile application resolution is coming in an order being circulated for a vote at the May 9 open meeting. The order finds the application would not be in the public interest because the company, which is "indirectly and ultimately owned and controlled by the Chinese government" is "vulnerable to exploitation, influence, and control" by that government.

“Safeguarding our communications networks is critical to our national security," said Ajit Pai. "After reviewing the evidence in this proceeding, including the input provided by other federal agencies, 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. Therefore, I do not believe that approving it would be in the public interest. I hope that my colleagues will join me in voting to reject China Mobile’s application.”

The application was filed in 2011, but when a foreign entity seeks such Sec. 214 connection authorizations to provide wired telecom service or resale, the FCC seeks input from executive branch agencies. In this case that took seven years, after which the National Telecommunications & Information Administration--the White House's principal telecom provider--recommended the application be denied. Pai agreed, and is circulating an order to the other commissioners to be voted on at the May 9 meeting.

China Mobile did submit a proposal for mitigating the executive branch's concerns, but those agencies did not feel there was a sufficient level of trust that China Mobile would comply given its close relationship with the Chinese government. The FCC echoed that finding, according to an FCC official speaking on background.

The official said that the FCC is usually receptive to foreign ownership, citing T-Mobile and Sprint, but that there were issues here that could not be mitigated.

He suggested the same concerns about protecting the national security of the United States have been driving the FCC's proceeding on whether broadband subsidy funds should be denied to any applicant using equipment from ZTE and Huawei.

The official said the FCC was concerned that there were no meaningful checks and balances on the Chinese government to compel companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies, which applies to both the interconnection and supply chain issues and companies.

Pai two weeks ago said the FCC is quickly trying to wrap up an item banning suspect tech from using government subsidy money for broadband buildouts, but the timing appears not to be entirely in the FCC's control.

Related: Huawei Says FCC Can't Block USF Funding

But asked what the status of that proceeding was he said that how to identify just which companies would be affected remained an open question and that the FCC was still waiting on guidance from the executive branch on how to define those companies before it proceeded.