Wednesday, March 16, 2022

FCC revokes licenses of China-based Pacific Networks

 The FCC revoked the license of Pacific Networks Corp. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, ComNet (USA) LLC, to provide domestic interstate and international telecommunications services within the United States.  

The FCC order directs the companies to discontinue any domestic or international services that they provide pursuant to their section 214 authority within sixty days following the release of the Order.  

The FCC said the comaphies are U.S. subsidiaries of a Chinese state-owned entity, and therefore they are subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and are highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight.  

  • In March 2021, the Commission found that Pacific Networks and ComNet had failed to dispel serious concerns regarding their retention of their authority to provide telecommunications services in the United States.