FCC Opposes Pacific Networks’ Pursuit of Revocation Stay

The FCC opposed a petition by Pacific Networks and its subsidiary ComNet in its appeal of the FCC’s 4-0 March order revoking their authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S. (see 2203160031), in a Friday pleading at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in docket 22-1054. “Based on an extensive record, the Commission found that the Companies -- which are majority-owned by China’s Ministry of Finance -- are subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government, which has engaged in malicious cyber activities targeted at the United States,” the FCC said: "The Companies claim … to pose somewhat less of a threat than larger carriers due to their smaller size, but an ostensibly smaller national security threat remains a national security threat.” The companies responded Monday to the pleading. The FCC “does not dispute that, unlike those previous orders, the Executive Branch did not recommend that the FCC revoke Petitioners’ authorizations,” they said: “The Opposition fails to respond to Petitioners’ claim that, among the many disputed facts at issue, a hearing before an administrative law judge would have provided a forum in which an independent factfinder could have determined whether Petitioners are similar to the large companies whose authorizations the FCC revoked and whether Petitioners’ services pose any realistic threat to national security.”