Status: 11/26/2022 7:56 am
The US has banned the import and sale of devices from well-known Chinese manufacturers. The FCC said these are an “unacceptable risk” to national security. Among others, Huawei and ZTE are affected.
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, announced the US telecommunications regulator FCC. The FCC wants to ensure “that untrustworthy communications devices are not authorized for use within our borders,” said FCC Director Jessica Rosenworcel.
“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.
Cross-party approval
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 trade dispute 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.
Huawei is the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications equipment and entered the mobile phone business in 2003. Before the US sanctions, the group was one of the world’s top three mobile phone manufacturers along with Apple and Samsung. The US accuses Huawei of close ties to Chinese authorities and warns of espionage and sabotage. The company denies the allegations.
Other companies affected
In addition to Huawei and ZTE, the order also affects devices from Hytera Communications, as well as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology, which launch widely used surveillance cameras. “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. Huawei and ZTE are already heavily affected by US sanctions.
Hikvision denied that its products posed a security threat to the US. The FCC’s ruling will make it much more expensive for small businesses, local government, school districts and individuals across the United States to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property, the company warned.