The American government has stopped Huawei from selling equipment for the next generation of cellular technology, known as 5G, in the United States. But the administration’s effort to persuade other countries to avoid Huawei’s equipment has run into resistance in many places.

China Mobile, one of the largest cellular providers in the world, applied for a license to connect calls between the United States and other nations in 2011. The company was not seeking to provide domestic cell service and compete in the country with businesses like AT&T and Verizon.

Still, China Mobile’s ability to connect calls between Americans to locations abroad worried the F.C.C. Those calls could be intercepted for surveillance and make the domestic network vulnerable to hacking and other risks, a senior official said in a call with reporters.

Mr. Pai said he had rejected the application after an internal review, and upon a recommendation last year by the Commerce Department to reject China Mobile’s plans because of the potential for espionage, hacking and other security risks. The application was filed by China Mobile U.S.A., a Delaware corporation that is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the F.C.C. said.

The application had sat for years with the commission with little public attention. Under President Trump, officials at the Commerce Department reviewed the application and recommended in July that the F.C.C. reject it. It was the first time, the commission said, that an administration had rejected a foreign telecommunications application.