The Federal
Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt
rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine
communication cables to the United States that include Chinese
technology or equipment.
“We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in
recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair
Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking
action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign
adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical
threats.”
The United States has for years expressed concerns about
China\u2019s role in handling network traffic and the potential for
espionage. The U.S. has broad data security concerns about the
network of more than 400 subsea cables that handle 99% of
international internet traffic.
Since 2020, U.S. regulators have been instrumental in
the cancellation of four cables whose backers had wanted to link
the United States with Hong Kong.
The FCC last year said it was considering new rules
governing undersea internet cables in the face of growing
security concerns, as part of a review of regulations on the
links that handle nearly all the world’s online traffic. The FCC
said it was considering barring the use of equipment or services
in those undersea cable facilities from companies on an FCC list
of companies deemed to pose threats to U.S, national security,
including Huawei, ZTE China Telecom and
China Mobile.
Carr said the FCC is taking action to “guard our
submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access
as well as cyber and physical threats.”
The FCC will also seek comment on additional measures to
protect submarine cable security against foreign adversary
equipment.
The cutting of two fiber-optic undersea telecommunication
cables in the Baltic Sea prompted investigations of possible
sabotage.
In 2023 Taiwan accused two Chinese vessels of cutting
the only two cables that support internet access on the Matsu
Islands and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea may have been
responsible for the cutting of three cables providing internet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The FederalCommunications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adoptrules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarinecommunication cables to the United States that include Chinesetechnology or equipment.“We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened inrecent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC ChairBrendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore takingaction here to guard our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n