The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revealed in a Thursday announcement that a record $34.9 million fine has been issued against Chinese electronics maker C. T. S. Technology for selling cellphone jammers in the US.

Alleging that 285 models of cellphone signal jammers were marketed by Shenzen-based C. T. S Technology to US consumers in the past two years, the FCC said that the penalty issued against the phone-jamming vendor is a culmination of 285 individual penalties, one for each model sold in the US.

Revealing that it is seeking the penalties against C. T. S. Technology, the FCC said that a `cease and desist' order has been issued to halt the sales of illegal phone-jamming equipment in the US; and that the agency has also demanded a list of individuals who purchased phone jammers from the Chinese firm.

According to the FCC, it is being falsely claimed by C. T. S. Technology that its phone signal jammers were approved by the agency. The FCC also added that, at one point of time, 10 units of phone jammers were sold by the company to undercover FCC personnel.

Noting that "all companies, whether domestic or foreign, are banned from marketing illegal jammers in the US," Travis LeBlanc - the acting chief of FCC enforcement Bureau - said: "Operating a jammer is also illegal, and consumers who do so face significant civil and criminal penalties."