Chinese devices a threat to US national security? For the first time in the history of the US telecommunications regulator, there is a ban on the registration of new devices.
The US government bans the sale and import of communication devices from Chinese smartphone manufacturers and network suppliers Huawei and ZTE. They posed an unacceptable risk to national security, the US telecommunications regulator FCC said. “As a result of our order, no new Huawei or ZTE devices can be approved,” FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr wrote on Twitter.
It is also possible to revoke existing permits. It is the “first time in FCC history” that new devices have been banned due to national safety concerns.
Other companies are also affected
The decision comes as no surprise. US President Joe Biden last year sealed the exclusion of Huawei and ZTE network technology from the US market by law, thus continuing the policy of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump in the economic crime with China. The law had broad bipartisan support at the time. The FCC now had to vote on the corresponding order within a year in order for it to be implemented. The United States accuses Huawei of close ties to Chinese authorities and warns of espionage and sabotage. The company denies the allegations.
In addition to Huawei and ZTE, the arrangement also affects devices from Hytera Communications as well as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology. “Even new devices from Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera cannot be approved unless they assure the FCC that their devices will not be used for public safety, government security, or other national security purposes,” Carr wrote on twitter. Huawei and ZTE are already heavily affected by US sanctions.