US Federal Communications Commission to vote to bar China’s Huawei and ZTE from US$8.5 billion government subsidy programme
- Telecoms regulator also plans to propose requiring US rural carriers to remove and replace equipment from designated companies
- Trump says US will cooperate with ‘like-minded nations’ to promote security in next-generation 5G networks
The US telecommunications regulator also plans to propose requiring US rural carriers to remove and replace equipment from designated companies. It intends to ask carriers how much it would cost to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE from existing networks and to establish a reimbursement programme to offset the costs of removing the equipment.
This is the latest in a series of actions by the US government aimed at barring US companies from purchasing Huawei and ZTE equipment. Huawei and ZTE would have 30 days to contest the FCC’s national security risk designation, the officials said.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai first proposed in March 2018 barring companies that posed a national security risk from receiving funds from the FCC’s Universal Service Fund, but did not name Huawei or ZTE. The fund provides subsidies to provide service in rural or hard-to-reach areas, and to libraries and schools.
The FCC will argue that the companies’ ties to the Chinese government and military apparatus and Chinese laws requiring that such companies assist Beijing with intelligence activities pose a US national security risk.
About a dozen rural US telecoms carriers that depend on inexpensive Huawei and ZTE switches and equipment were in discussions with Ericsson and Nokia to replace their Chinese equipment, Reuters reported in June.
FCC set to block China Mobile bid to provide US services
In a letter to delegates at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference in Egypt, he said the United States intended “to deploy 5G services rapidly” and was “in opposition to those who would use 5G as a tool to expand control of their own citizens and to sow discord among nations”.
Last month, Norway said it did not plan to block Huawei from building the country’s 5G telecoms network. The Sunday Times reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to grant Huawei access to the “non-contentious” parts of the 5G network, and Reuters reported this month that a new German security rule book would not exclude Huawei.
In May, Trump signed a long-awaited executive order declaring a national emergency and barring US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by companies posing a national security risk.
The order directed the Commerce Department, working with other government agencies, to draw up an enforcement plan by mid-October. The Commerce Department has yet to publish a plan.
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