China’s top three wireless providers on their home soil are about to undergo a probe by a US congressional committee that wants more information about their operations in the States. The committee is looking to force the carriers, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile to answer questions while cooperating with a US investigation into the trio’s support of the Communist Chinese government and the country’s military. With more than 1 billion subscribers as of last September, China Mobile is the largest wireless carrier in the world.
The US lawmakers are concerned that the Chinese carriers’ US cloud and internet businesses could help them gain access to Americans’ personal data and intellectual property. The congressional committee says that it has evidence that some high-profile cyber attacks connected to China are connected to the carriers’ US platforms. In order to get the three wireless firms to answer its questions, a bipartisan group from the House of Representatives select committee on China used its subpoena powers. This is a power rarely used by the committee.
However, the committee’s Republican chair John Moolenaar and its top Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi felt compelled to turn the heat up on the three Chinese carriers after the trio failed to respond to questions put to them by a US Commerce Department investigation. By ignoring the queries asked during the probe, the three Chinese wireless firms now can be compelled to answer questions put to them by the committee.
The cyber attacks that the congressional committee wants answers about include the Volt Typhoon attack which the FBI says allowed China to gain access to important US infrastructure regarding telecommunications, energy, water, and other extremely important national systems. Beijing has denied any responsibility for the attack. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy has said, “We oppose the U.S. over-stretching the concept of national security, using national apparatus and long-arm jurisdiction to bring down Chinese companies.”
The three Chinese carriers have small businesses in the US routing wholesale US internet traffic and also offering cloud service. In 2019, the FCC denied China Mobile a license to provide consumers in the US with telecom services. In 2021 and 2022, the FCC took away the authorizations of China Telecom and China Unicom to do business in the States.
A spokesman for the congressional committee said even with the FCC ban preventing all three firms from operating licensed telecom infrastructure in the US, they have avoided oversight by the FCC by running hardware, software, and cloud-based systems in the States that do not require an FCC-approved license. “The committee has received third-party private sector reporting and intelligence indicating these platforms have enabled cyber intrusions, data theft, and potential sabotage of U.S. infrastructure,” the spokesperson added.
The Chinese wireless providers have until May 7th to cooperate with the committee. If they fail to respond in time, the companies can be held in contempt by Congress.
