Carr Welcomes Expansion of FCC’s National Security Blacklist 
FCC Adds Carriers Tied to Communist China, Russia-Aligned Cybersecurity Firm 
WASHINGTON, DC, March 25, 2022—Today, the FCC announced updates to its Covered List, which identifies entities that pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.  Specifically, the Commission added three new entities to the list:  China Mobile International USA Inc., China Telecom (Americas) Corp, and AO Kaspersky Labs.  Entities that are on the Commission’s Covered List are prohibited from receiving support through the agency’s Universal Service Fund.  
The FCC’s decision to add these three entities is supported by recommendations from Executive Branch agencies with responsibility for U.S. national security.  This action follows on the FCC’s 2019 decision to block China Mobile’s application for Section 214 authority to provide service in the U.S. based on national security grounds.  Similarly, the FCC revoked China Telecom’s Section 214 authority last November.  Upon reaching that determination, Carr highlighted the urgency of expanding the agency’s Covered List so that we keep it up to date, including through collaboration with the Executive Branch.
Commissioner Carr issued the following statement:
“The FCC’s decision to add these three entities to our Covered List is welcome news.  The FCC plays a critical role in securing our nation’s communications networks, and keeping our Covered List up to date is an important tool we have at our disposal to do just that.  In particular, I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list.  Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.
I applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel for working closely with our partners in the Executive Branch on these updates.  As we continue our work to secure America’s communications networks, I am confident that we will have more entities to add to our Covered List.”  
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Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr
www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
Media Contact:  Greg Watson
(202) 418-0658 or greg.watson@fcc.gov