When are we going to be getting some adults in charge in our government?
It's past being embarrassing to admit to be an American anymore.
America's telecom market federal regulator, the FCC, today initiated the final step in a booting three Chinese telcos from the Land of the Free, saying they had failed to allay national security concerns. The announcement follows a decision by the communications watchdog in December last year to begin a proceeding to determine …
Not sure where your problem lies. American companies (or any other non-Chinese companies) are not allowed to setup in business on their own in China, and certainly not telecommunication companies. If it was a level playing field, I could agree with you, but the Chinese government seems to keep getting away with unfair business practices.
(I'm laying aside the political aspects of this, and just looking at the practical aspects.)
I wonder how much ComNet, Pacific Networks, or China Unicom hardware there is here in the states anyway? I've heard of ZTE and Huawei, but ZTE did very few phone or tablet sales here, and none of the big cell cos users Huawei equipment. I haven't heard of ComNet or Pacific Networks at all; and I've heard of China Unicom, but in terms of if I went to China, my phone could roam on China Unicom, not in terms of selling any equipment here.
There was some ZTE and Huawei equipment running here mostly among some wireless internet providers; these WISPs use a variety of technologies, in general the site equipment and CPE (customer premises equipment) are same-brand. In the distant past Motorola Canopy at 900mhz was common (not sure what technology this used, it was apparently good for up to like 2 or 3mpbs per user), more recently there's a variety of bands, and 4G LTE, or 5Gnr, or straight-up cable-modem style DOCSIS on 6mhz channels but going over the air on their licensed band instead of over a coax cable.
This was a bit of a mess apparently, the order to remove the ZTE and Huawei equipment gave until some date, and (due to COVID-related increases in internet traffic) a fund for WISPs to upgrade their equipment started like a month or two AFTER that deadline. Several WISPs pointed out they were going to have all their equipment replaced, severely depleting their funds, then be inelligible for this fund because all their equipment's just been replaced and is brand new. This was apparently unintentional so I don't know if they worked out some kind of reimbursements from the fund or not.
Bloomberg - "China Unicom links to U.S. networks at 11 places where it has installed routers, according to the security agencies’ filing. The company leases circuits from U.S. carriers, and has relationships with AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and CenturyLink Inc., according to the filing."
Doesn't that mean they are actually handling US communications? (as well as installing equipment).
(I'm not too clear on this).
The answer is 'effectively none'. These telcos rent capacity from major providers. They exist to service Chinese customers in parts of the US which have a substantial Chinese diaspora.
This was reported on when the ban was first mooted but there's nothing like recycling a bit of trash when you're looking for a Cold War rampup. Especially if you're light on detail (like, for example, the differece between telco and equipment provider -- if you make people aware of this then they're be scratching their heads wondering why Huawei could be a 'security threat'.
What I fear all this is doing is showing us up to be incompetent, a bit of a laughing stock in the 'rest of the world's' eyes. (Sure the usual five eyes crew will all tag along but they're not 'the rest of the world'.)
Seems like a reciprocal approach to me. There are no US telcos allowed in China. In addtion many US companies are not allowed to do business in China, or if they are have onerous conditions imposed.
However, to mistake this for a "Large" relative change in security is mistaken. If anything flared up with China, all kinds of little things from screws on up would be in great shortage. Not so in China. "For want of a screw ... "
> In 2012, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, went on prime-time television to announce that Apple would make a Mac computer in the United States. It would be the first Apple product in years to be manufactured by American workers, and the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would come with an unusual inscription: “Assembled in USA.” But when Apple began making the $3,000 computer in Austin, Tex., it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. In China, Apple relied on factories that can produce vast quantities of custom screws on short notice. In Texas, where they say everything is bigger, it turned out the screw suppliers were not. Tests of new versions of the computer were hamstrung because a 20-employee machine shop that Apple’s manufacturing contractor was relying on could produce at most 1,000 screws a day.
Fortunately it was just a dry run for Apple
> The screw shortage was one of several problems that postponed sales of the computer for months, the people who worked on the project said. By the time the computer was ready for mass production, Apple had ordered screws from China.
Not going to be able to order screws from China if any blood is spilt.
Because of that you can see how the USA >looks< like a vulnerable target to an "optimistic" agressive PLA general.
But in fact the USA would not fold - and so we could end up with a nuclear war / worldwide starvation / etc.
If the proposed addition of the 12GHz spectrum to 5G goes forward, Starlink broadband terminals across America could be crippled, or so SpaceX has complained.
The Elon Musk biz made the claim [PDF] this week in a filing to the FCC, which is considering allowing Dish to operate a 5G service in the 12GHz band (12.2-12.7GHz). This frequency range is also used by Starlink and others to provide over-the-air satellite internet connectivity.
SpaceX said its own in-house study, conducted in Las Vegas, showed "harmful interference from terrestrial mobile service to SpaceX's Starlink terminals … more than 77 percent of the time, resulting in full outages 74 percent of the time." It also claimed the interference will extend to a minimum of 13 miles from base stations. In other words, if Dish gets to use these frequencies in the US, it'll render nearby Starlink terminals useless through wireless interference, it was claimed.
The saga of the US government's plan to rip and replace China-made communications kit from the country's networks has a new twist: following reports that applications for funding far outstripped the cash set aside, it appears two-thirds of such applications lack adequate cost estimates or sufficient supporting evidence.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) informed Congress that it had found deficiencies in 122 of the 181 of the applications filed with it by US carriers for funding to reimburse them for replacing telecoms equipment sourced from Chinese companies.
The FCC voted nearly a year ago to reimburse medium and small carriers in the US for removing and replacing all network equipment provided by companies such as Huawei and ZTE. The telecoms operators were required to do this in the interests of national security under the terms of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act.
The United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has labelled Kaspersky, China Mobile, and China Telecom as threats to national security.
The three companies join Huawei, ZTE, Chinese radio-comms vendor Hytera, and Chinese video surveillance systems vendors Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company and Dahua Technology Company.
Kaspersky is the first non-Chinese company to be added to the FCC's list, but the agency did not tie its decision to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese telco Pacific Networks and its subsidiary ComNet must cease all services within the United States within 60 days from Wednesday March 16 following an order issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In a canned statement, the FCC cited "potential security threats" as the justification for its action, which passed on a 4-0 vote.
The agency concluded that the companies, which it deemed US subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned entities, are "subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government" and "highly likely" to be forced into complying with requests from Beijing without independent judicial oversight.
The United States Federal Communications Commission has revealed that carriers have applied for $5.6 billion in funding to rip and replace China-made communications kit.
The applications were made under the Secure And Trusted Communications Reimbursement Program, which offers to reimburse carriers with under ten million subscribers to ditch kit from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The FCC and Congress want them to do so because the USA fears made-in-China comms kit contains backdoors that Beijing could exploit to either eavesdrop on communications or cut them off entirely.
Replacing made-in-China products with kit designed by American firms is supposed to be a route to improved national security.
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has barred Chinese carrier China Unicom from operating in America.
China Unicom Americas promotes a wide range of data carriage services and bills itself as "the trusted partner of US-based businesses seeking one-stop connectivity with China and beyond."
But the FCC believes no US business should trust China Unicom and has investigated its operations since early 2021, when it signalled its preference for expelling the carrier.
The US Federal Communications Commission is considering imposing stricter rules requiring telecommunications carriers to report data breaches to customers and law enforcement more quickly.
Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel drafted a document outlining the new proposal to strengthen the FCC’s powers for disclosing data breaches and leaks to customers and federal agencies of “customer proprietary network information.” The updated rules, published this week, would keep the FCC in line with other federal and state data breach laws, she said.
At the moment, companies have to wait seven business days before they can disclose a data breach to their customers. Under the new plan, the waiting period will be scrapped altogether so people can be notified sooner.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has terminated China Telecom's authority to provide communications services in the USA.
In its announcement of the termination, the government agency explained the decision is necessary because the national security environment has changed in the years since 2002. That was when China Telecom was first allowed to operate in the USA.
The FCC now believes – partly based on classified advice from national security agencies – that China Telecom can "access, store, disrupt, and/or misroute US communications, which in turn allow them to engage in espionage and other harmful activities against the United States." And because China Telecom is state-controlled, China's government can compel the carrier to act as it sees fit, without judicial review or oversight.
The new 5G C-band wireless broadband service expected to rollout on 5 January 2022 in the US will disrupt local radio signals and make it difficult for airplanes to land safely in harsh weather conditions, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Pilots rely on radio altimeter readings to figure out when and where an aircraft should carry out a series of operations to prepare for touchdown. But the upcoming 5G C-band service beaming from cell towers threatens to interfere with these signals, the FAA warned in two reports.
Flights may have to be delayed or restricted at certain airports as the new broadband service comes into effect next year. The change could affect some 6,834 airplanes and 1,828 helicopters. The cost to operators is expected to be $580,890.
The FCC is now accepting reimbursement requests from companies in the US that are ripping out and replacing their now-unwelcome Chinese Huawei and ZTE networking equipment.
Small to medium-sized companies with fewer than ten million customers can ask the American watchdog to cover the costs of removing, replacing, and disposing of the gear. Organizations have until January 14, 2022 to apply for a slice of the FCC’s $1.9bn Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
As a reminder, in December telcos and similar outfits were strong-armed into agreeing to extract and replace Huawei and ZTE technology in their networks on the grounds of maintaining national security. US communications providers had to fall in line with this order, and dump their Chinese boxen, if they wanted to tap into the FCC's Universal Service Fund, a subsidy they pretty much all rely on. Thus, the carriers and co had little choice.
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