WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission ordered four Chinese state-owned telecommunications operators to explain why it shouldn’t withdraw permission for them to operate in the U.S., paving the way for likely license revocations.

The FCC sent orders Friday to the U.S. units of state-owned carriers China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom, as well as to Pacific Networks Corp. and ComNet (USA) LLC, both of which are controlled by Chinese government investment firm Citic Group Corp.

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