FCC Asks Congress for More Funding for Equipment Replacement

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Jessica Rosenworcel asked Congress to approve more than $3 billion. The money should serve as additional funding to help US operators remove equipment made by Huawei and ZTE from their networks.

Rosenworcel said that nearly 40% of participants in the rip and replace program reported they could not complete the gear swap without additional government funding. Congress passed a law in 2019 requiring operators serving less than 10 million customers that had received government subsidies to remove network equipment deemed to pose a national security risk.

It allocated $1.9 billion for the FCC Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Programme, but the agency has repeatedly stated the estimated cost to replace the equipment is around $4.98 billion. The law requires the FCC to first allocate funds to operators that have two million or less customers. Rosenworcel explained those applicants will receive prorated support of only 39.5% of reasonable costs.

In many rural and remote areas of the country where they may be the only mobile broadband service provider, a shutdown of all or part of their networks could eliminate the only provider in some regions. In addition, the inability of service providers to fully remove, replace, and dispose of their covered equipment and services would raise national security concerns by leaving insecure equipment and services in our networks.

The administration of President Joe Biden sought $3.1 billion in additional funding in October 2023, but Congress hasn’t approved it. Competitive Carriers Association President and CEO Tim Donovan urged Congress to act upon the funding request for the program. “The urgency of the Chairwoman’s letter highlights the dire necessity to secure our nation’s communications infrastructure and prevent network failures and service reductions impacting tens of millions of consumers,” he stated.