FCC Sets 19 November Vote to Cut Chinese Carriers Off Direct Access to US Numbers

Flags of the United States and China outside a government building

The US Federal Communications Commission will vote on 19 November on a proposal that would stop China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and other IP-enabled service providers from obtaining American phone numbers directly. FCC chair Brendan Carr cast the measure as a robocall and fraud defence; the practical effect lands on wholesale voice carriers that route international traffic into US numbering.

Two clauses reach further than the operators named. One would bar IP-enabled service providers that use equipment from companies on the FCC’s national security risk list, Huawei and ZTE among them, from holding direct number access. Another would keep Chinese laboratories out of the testing regime for US electronic products from December 2028. The commission also said it may revoke authorisations already granted to companies it deems risky.

The equipment clause is the one that costs money. US wholesale and VoIP providers running Huawei or ZTE softswitches, session border controllers or transport gear would have to replace them before they could keep numbering rights, and the FCC’s own reimbursement programme has never covered demand.

Congress created that programme at the FCC’s request with $1.9 billion for carriers with 10 million or fewer customers, then topped it up; the commission now describes the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as a $4.98 billion effort. Applications from affected carriers ran to roughly $5.6 billion, leaving a gap that the agency has spent years managing through deadline extensions and spending reports.

The numbering proposal follows a longer sequence. Huawei and ZTE went on the covered list in 2019, China Telecom’s US authorisation was revoked in 2021, China Mobile’s followed in 2022, and the commission has since moved on connected vehicles, routers and laboratory accreditation. Each step narrowed the routes by which Chinese equipment and Chinese-operated services reach US networks.

Beijing has objected. China’s foreign ministry said it opposed the expected ban and accused Washington of widening the definition of national security to suppress Chinese companies. Chinese carriers have not published a response to the equipment clause, and the FCC has not said how many authorisations would be reviewed if the proposal passes.

For equipment buyers outside the US, the signal is familiar. Covered-list status now reaches into numbering rights and test-lab accreditation, which gives carriers in third markets a reason to check procurement against US rules before signing multi-year support contracts. Whether the vote changes anything for the three carriers depends on how the final order defines indirect access, a term the draft leaves to the commission.

Supplier’s note: US carriers exiting Huawei and ZTE gear generate steady supply of transport and voice infrastructure, and prices on that material have softened since 2024 because buyers are few outside the Americas. We handle Huawei NE40E and NE20E routers, ZTE ZXR10 M6000 series routers and session border controller chassis, tested with licensed feature sets where the seller can prove entitlement. Lead times run 3 to 5 weeks for units already in stock and 6 to 8 weeks for configurations requiring card swaps. Buyers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East should verify that firmware and support licences transfer with the hardware, because export-controlled units may not be serviceable afterward. Minimum order is one chassis; we provide serial-level records and pre-shipment test reports.