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The Federal Communications Commission has announced a new investigation that appears focused on eliminating Huawei, ZTE, Dahua Technology, and other Chinese vendors from conducting any business in the US.
In 2022, the FCC banned the import and sale of communications equipment from nine Chinese networking firms, citing national security risks. But on Friday, new FCC Chair Brendan Carr called for a "sweeping" investigation into those companies, despite them already being blacklisted.
“Some or all of those entities may still be operating in the US —either because they do not believe the FCC’s Covered List prohibits particular types of operations or otherwise,” the FCC said in the announcement.
The FCC is launching the investigation through its new “Council on National Security,” which Carr announced last week. The council’s goal is to root out foreign spying threats, especially after Chinese state-sponsored hackers were found to be inside as many as nine US telecommunications networks for months.
In Friday’s announcement, Carr indicated the Commission has uncovered evidence that some of the blacklisted Chinese telecommunication firms “are trying to make an end run around those FCC prohibitions by continuing to do business in America on a private or ‘unregulated’ basis.”
“The FCC, working through our new Council on National Security and in coordination with partners across the Federal government, will identify the scope of their ongoing activities and move quickly to close any loopholes that have permitted untrustworthy, foreign adversary state-backed actors to skirt our rules,” he said.
The FCC sent “letters of Inquiry and at least one subpoena” to the Chinese firms. The goal is to learn the full scope of their activities in the US, and whether other companies “may be aiding their operations here,” the FCC added.
Huawei, ZTE, and Dahua Technology didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But both Huawei and ZTE have repeatedly denied posing a security threat to the US.