FCC proposes blocking high-risk firms from automatic telecom market approvals

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed new restrictions that seek to block companies flagged as national security threats from gaining easy access to the U.S. telecom market.

The agency voted to launch a rulemaking that would bar entities on its “Covered List” from receiving automatic authorization to provide domestic telecom services under Section 214 of the 1934 Communications Act, a process many carriers have relied on for decades to begin operating without a full commission review.

The change would mark a notable expansion of how the FCC uses its national security authorities. Under the proposal, Covered List entities would be cut off from so-called “blanket” Section 214 authority and instead face case-by-case review if they attempt to provide service, the agency said.

The Covered List, created under the 2019 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, already blocks the use of federal funds to buy or maintain equipment from designated companies. But it doesn’t automatically prevent those firms from securing FCC approvals or offering service in the United States.

The FCC is also seeking input on whether to revoke existing authorizations for companies already operating under that framework and whether U.S. carriers should be barred from interconnecting — or directly linking their networks to exchange traffic — with Covered List providers unless they receive explicit approval.

The Covered List already includes major Chinese telecom and tech firms like Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision and Dahua, along with Russia-based Kaspersky Lab.

More recently, the FCC expanded the list to include foreign-made routers, a move that’s drawn pushback amid concerns it could sweep too broadly and disrupt supply chains, even as officials pointed to growing cyber risks tied to network edge devices.

Foreign adversaries, particularly China, frequently target telecommunications infrastructure for espionage and access.

In 2024, investigators uncovered a yearslong campaign carried out by Salt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking group that breached telecom operators and other communications services in the U.S. and around the world.

Around February, suspected China-linked hackers broke into an FBI surveillance system and likely revealed phone numbers of targets being surveilled by the bureau, Nextgov/FCW reported earlier this month.