Page:2020-06-09 PSI Staff Report - Threats to U.S. Communications Networks.pdf/53

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Subcommittee that there is no meaningful difference between the services for which China Mobile USA sought authorization to provide and the services currently being provided by the three other Chinese state-owned carriers.[1] Further, the officials stated that CTA, CUA, and ComNet were also susceptible to the same national security and law enforcements concerns Team Telecom raised when recommending the FCC deny China Mobile USA's application.[2] Nevertheless, until recently, Team Telecom conducted minimal oversight of these entities, despite having entered into security agreements with CTA and ComNet more than a decade ago.[3] During that time, Team Telecom conducted only two site visits to each company.[4] Team Telecom, by contrast, never entered into a security agreement with CUA, meaning it has had no interaction with the company.[5] Only since April 2020, when the Subcommittee was nearing the end of its investigation, did Team Telecom and the FCC take steps to fully assess whether the companies' existing authorizations continue to serve the public interest.[6]

A. China Mobile Limited and China Mobile USA

China Mobile Limited ("China Mobile") is "the leading provider of telecommunications and related services in Mainland China."[7] The company provides a full suite of communications services, including "mobile voice and data business [and] wireline broadband."[8] Together with its subsidiaries, it is also the

    Notice—International Authorizations Granted, Rep. No. TEL-00151, DA No. 99-2328, 14 FCC Red 17862, 17864 (Oct. 28, 1999) (ComNet authorization).

  1. ↑ Briefing with the Dep't of Justice (Apr. 3, 2020); Briefing with the Dep't of Homeland Sec. (Feb. 7, 2020).
  2. ↑ Briefing with the Dep't of Homeland Sec. (Feb. 7, 2020); Briefing with the Dep't of Justice (Aug. 1, 2019).
  3. ↑ See Letter from Yi-jun Tan, President, China Telecom (USA) Corp., to Sigal Mandelker, Deputy Assistant Att'y Gen., Dep't of Justice, Elaine Lammert, Deputy Gen. Counsel, Fed. Bureau of Investigation, & Stewart Baker, Assistant Sec'y for Policy, Dep't of Homeland Sec. (July 17, 2007); Letter from Norman Yuen, Chairman, Pacific Networks Corp., & Fan Wei, Dir., CM Tel (USA) LLC to Stephen Heifetz, Deputy Assistant Sec'y for Policy Dev., Dep't of Homeland Sec. & Matthew Olsen, Acting Assistant Att'y Gen., Nat'l Sec. Div., Dep't of Justice (Mar. 3, 2009).
  4. ↑ See DHS00472PSI-76; DHS00477PSI-89; DHS00460PSI-65; DHS00466PSI-71; TT-DOJ-521-73; TT-DOJ-495-99; TT-DOJ-500-06; TT-DOJ-507-20.
  5. ↑ Briefing with China Unicom Americas (Apr. 16, 2020); Briefing with the Dep't of Justice (Apr. 3, 2020); Briefing with the Dep't of Homeland Sec. (Feb. 7, 2020); Briefing with the Dep't of Justice (Aug. 1, 2019).
  6. ↑ See Executive Branch Recommendation re CTA, supra note 56; Press Release, Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n, FCC Scrutinizes Four Chinese Government-Controlled Entities Providing Telecommunications Services in the U.S. (Apr. 24, 2020), https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-scrutinizes-four-chinese-government-controlled-telecom-entities. Team Telecom officials stressed to the Subcommittee that, although it did not file its recommendation to revoke CTA's authorizations until April 2020, it was reviewing CTA's authorizations long before that. Email from the Dep't of Homeland Sec. to the Subcommittee (June 4, 2020) (on file with the Subcommittee).
  7. ↑ China Mobile FY2019 Form 20-F, supra note 123, at 21.
  8. ↑ About China Mobile—Overview, China Mobile Limited, https://www.chinamobileltd.com/en/about/overview.php.

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