Chinese Telecom Firms Retain Equipment in US Internet Infrastructure

A bipartisan U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a report stating that China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom kept unregulated hardware, server space and network connections inside commercial data centres and internet exchange points across the United States despite FCC bans. The investigation uncovered roughly 109,000 suspicious Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing events linked to the three firms over seven years, affecting at least 477 U.S. networks, including telecom operators, Fortune‑500 companies and critical‑infrastructure providers.

Committee chair John Moolenaar warned that the retained equipment creates a “national‑security risk” because the firms are subject to Chinese government control and law. The report recommends new legislation to give the Federal Communications Commission explicit authority to deny blanket authorizations to foreign‑controlled operators, fund “rip‑and‑replace” projects for existing equipment, and expand inter‑agency monitoring of foreign‑controlled infrastructure. Subpoenas were issued after the companies refused to cooperate with the investigation.