The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has said it is ordering the US units of China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile to discontinue fixed or mobile broadband Internet operations in the United States.

As reported by Reuters, the regulator said that the carriers were required to discontinue services within 60 days of the effective date of the net neutrality order approved last Thursday.

Also impacted by the order is Chinese telco Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet.

The FCC has previously said that Chinese telecom firms were "subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government."

The regulator has highlighted its concerns around Chinese access to Points of Presence (POPs) typically located within data centers.

"They are interconnecting with other networks and have access to important Points of Presence and data centers," said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

Starks noted that China Telecom's website shows that the company operates 26 so-called Internet "Points of Presence" (POPs) in the United States and offers colocation, broadband, IP transit, and data center services.

In 2022, the US banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, amid national security fears.

The Biden Administration said at the time that two companies posed "an unacceptable risk" to US national security.

The stance followed that of the previous government, with former President Donald Trump signing an executive order in May 2019 aimed at giving the federal government power to block US companies from purchasing any foreign-made telecommunications equipment deemed a national security risk.

The move was particularly focused on Huawei and led to the vendor facing severe restrictions on its use of Google Mobile Services (Android OS), which in turn severely hurt Huawei's smartphone business.