The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States.
The agency says about 75 per cent of all US electronics are tested in China and plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in US labs or labs from countries not posing national security risks.
In a separate 3-0 vote, the commission advanced a proposal to bar China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from operating data centres in the US and could ban telecoms carriers from interconnecting with companies on its national security “Covered List”.
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Previously, the FCC barred the three companies from operating in the US.
The FCC said it was also considering barring interconnection with companies that own data centres or points of presence at US internet exchange points, extending restrictions to some affiliates of listed firms, and prohibiting interconnection with carriers using equipment from suppliers on the national security list including Huawei and ZTE.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said the commission is considering a series of actions “to secure our networks from these bad actors”, including limiting their interconnection ability.