How the FCC’s Chinese Telecoms Ban Will Impact State, Local Government

The Federal Communications Commission's recent restrictions on five Chinese telecoms’ technologies — adopted on Nov. 25, 2022 — could impact state and local governments in ways previous bans haven’t. “Up until now … the federal agencies have been prohibited from buying this kind of technology, but it's still been widely available to state and local governments, to private companies, individuals,” said Jack Corrigan, research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). State and local governments may not always be aware they’re using the technologies, because the tools may reach them as white-label products via third-party providers. The new ban takes aim at that issue by targeting the technologies themselves, regardless of what name they’re sold under and who’s selling them. The rule would not require state and local governments to give up the tools they’re already using or stop them from buying tech from the banned companies that are already in the country. But it would gradually dwindle the available supply, by blocking new sales and imports of these companies’ offerings.