US FCC chair says China’s IoT cellular components makers Quectel, Fibocom may pose national security risks
- The FCC chairwoman has written to the FBI, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the Defence Department and other agencies on the matter
- US lawmakers are concerned that if China ‘may be able to effectively exfiltrate data or shut down’ IoT devices using Chinese cellular modules
Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked US government agencies to consider declaring that Chinese companies including Quectel and Fibocom Wireless pose unacceptable national security risks, according to letters seen by Reuters.
The Republican chair of the House of Representatives China Select Committee, Mike Gallagher, and the top Democrat on the panel Raja Krishnamoorthi, asked the FCC last month to consider adding to its so-called Covered List the two companies that produce cellular modules that enable Internet of Things (IoT) devices to connect to the internet.
Federal funds cannot be used to purchase equipment from companies on the list, and the FCC will not authorise new equipment from companies deemed national security threats.
Rosenworcel wrote the FBI, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the Defence Department and other agencies on September 1, forwarding the request from the lawmakers.
She said in the previously unreported letters the FCC welcomes the opportunity to collaborate “in addressing this threat, including consideration of the inclusion of this equipment from Quectel and Fibocom on the Covered List.”
A US spokesperson for Quectel said once modules are delivered “Quectel customers own the data, and we have no access to any of the data collected”.