Members of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology have been advised to monitor the recent action of the Federal Communications Commission against the operations of China Telecom in the United States.
Copies of written information on the issue were sent to several lawmakers in connection with the FCC decision to prohibit the Chinese state-owned telecommunication firms from operating in the US over national security concerns.
The US-FCC has announced it has ordered China Telecom to cease US operations in 60 days.
The controversy is important in the Philippines because China Telecom has a 40 percent stake in Dito Telecommunity Corp, the third telco player in the country.
Similar security concerns have been raised against Dito’s operations in the Philippines especially its establishment of cellular sites inside or near military camps.
Last month, Senator Risa Hontiveros aired serious concerns over Dito’s relations with China Telecom. She sought a security audit by the National Security Council to assess any threat to the country.
China Telecom, the largest Chinese telecommunications company, has had authorization to provide telecommunications services for nearly 20 years in the United States.
In a statement, the FCC explained it found that China Telecom "is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight."
The U.S. regulator argued such “ownership and control” raise “significant national security and law enforcement risks” and the operation of the division would give the Chinese authorities the ability to “access, store, disrupt” or misroute US communications, which could be used for espionage and “other harmful activities” against the nation.
The FCC explained it will issue guidance for customers of China Telecom Americas to switch to other operators.
It is the latest in a series of actions against operators the FCC considers to have links with the Chinese government, which earlier this year resulted in a ban against China Unicom among others.