The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has warned China Mobile that it faces a fine unless the company cooperates with the agency's investigation into its US operations.

In a citation and order issued on June 16, the FCC outlined that China Mobile has so far failed to fully comply with commission orders.

It comes after the FCC said in March that it was investigating nine Chinese companies, including China Mobile, Huawei Technologies, ZTE, Hangzhou Hikvision, and China Telecom to see if the companies have evaded US restrictions.

China Mobile, along with other Chinese technology companies, has previously been barred by the FCC from providing telecommunications services in the US.

In the FCC's citation to China Mobile, the agency accused China Mobile of misconduct, and noted that China Mobile had failed to provide the specific information and documentation requested.

The purpose of the FCC's probe is to see if China Mobile is still operating in the country, via loopholes or illegally.

"China Mobile's conduct throughout this matter exhibits a disregard for the Commission's authority and threatens to compromise the Commission's ability to adequately investigate," said the FCC.

"Despite the Commission’s denial of China Mobile’s application for international 214 authorization and despite the Commission’s placement of China Mobile’s international telecommunications services on the Covered List, China Mobile may still be operating in the United States, because it claims that its status on the Covered List does not prohibit certain types of operations or otherwise," the FCC wrote.

The regulator said that, unless China Mobile answers its questions as part of the probe in the next 30 days, it will face fines.

Back in 2019, the FCC said that the telco was indirectly owned by the Chinese government. This, according to the FCC presented a national security threat to the US.

The US has sought to impose tough sanctions on Chinese telecoms companies in the last decade.

In 2022, the US banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, amid national security fear, with the Biden Administration stating at the time that the two companies posed "an unacceptable risk" to US national security.

The stance followed that of the previous government, led by President Donald Trump during his first term. He signed 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.