The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will put in place a $ 1.9 billion program to reimburse American telecommunications operators, mostly rural, for the withdrawal of network equipment manufactured by Chinese companies considered. as threats to national security, such as Huawei and ZTE
The program, which was finalized in July, will open on October 29 for applications until January 14, 2022.
Last year, the FCC singled out Huawei and ZTE as threats to the national security of communications networks – a statement that prevented US companies from tapping into an $ 8.3 billion government fund to purchase such equipment. companies. In December, the FCC passed rules requiring operators with ZTE or Huawei equipment to “rip and replace” that equipment.
The issue is important for rural operators who face high costs and the difficulty of finding workers to remove and replace equipment.
The FCC’s final order extended companies eligible for reimbursement from those with 2 million or fewer customers to those with 10 million or fewer customers.
In September 2020, the FCC estimated that the cost of removing and replacing Huawei and ZTE equipment from the networks would be $ 1.837 billion.
In June, the FCC voted to advance a plan to ban the authorizations of equipment in US telecommunications networks from Chinese companies considered threats to national security, such as Huawei and ZTE. The FCC could also revoke previous equipment authorizations issued to Chinese companies. In March, the FCC identified five Chinese companies as posing a threat to national security under a 2019 law to protect U.S. communications networks.
The companies involved included Huawei and ZTE, previously cited, as well as Hytera Communications Corp, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.
In August 2020, the U.S. government banned federal agencies from purchasing goods or services from any of these five Chinese companies.
Source : Commission fdrale des communications (FCC)
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