US May Denies Telecom License to China Mobile

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Ken Dilanian, Fears of Spying Hinder US License for China Mobile. Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2012.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-china-mobile-20120505,0,4550705.story

Quote:

(a) "China Mobile, the world's largest mobile provider, applied in October for a license from the Federal Communications Commission to provide service between China and the United States and to build facilities on American soil.

"Officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department's national security division are concerned that the move would give the company access to physical infrastructure and Internet traffic that might allow China to spy more easily on the U.S. government and steal intellectual property from American companies,

(b) "Team Telecom's review of China Mobile's application is complicated by the fact that two other Chinese government-owned firms, China Telecom and China Unicom, were granted similar licenses in 2002 and 2003, respectively, well before Chinese cyber espionage was viewed as a pressing concern. Both carry phone and Internet traffic between the U.S. and China.

"In neither case did Team Telecom require a national security agreement that specifies, for example, how the company must protect U.S. classified information that could traverse its network.

"In recent years, Team Telecom has required foreign-owned firms to sign extremely detailed agreements.