PacNet, China Unicom Added to FCC 'Covered' List

The FCC expanded its list of "covered" equipment suppliers -- deemed to present security concerns -- adding Chinese companies PacNet/ComNet and China Unicom (Americas) Tuesday. That brings the number on the list to 10, all Chinese except for Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab. Additions were last made in March (see 2203250067). Both companies “have been determined by Executive Branch interagency bodies to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” said a Public Safety Bureau notice. The Chinese government’s “majority ownership and control of PacNet and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet … combined with Chinese intelligence and cybersecurity laws, raise concerns that PacNet/ComNet will be forced to comply with Chinese government requests for communications intercepts, without the ability to challenge such requests,” the bureau said: “The Executive Branch entities have determined that services provided by China Unicom associated with its international section 214 authorization pose a substantial and unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and its people.”