On Thursday (10) the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted overwhelmingly to adopt a “list of excluded Huawei and ZTE equipment” and to initiate the process of revoking China Telecom’s operations in the United States.
The FCC voted overwhelmingly 5-0 on Thursday to adopt a list of equipment to ban Huawei and ZTE, and the FCC also launched a grant program to provide at least $1.6 billion in funding to compensate qualified smaller vendors for replacement equipment, which is pending congressional allotment.
It is understood that once the funds are available, U.S. remote communications carriers must exclude such equipment or services from their networks and dispose of them appropriately.
In addition, the FCC has initiated the process of revoking China Telecom’s authorization to operate in the U.S. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said we are very concerned that China Telecom will be forced to comply with the Chinese government’s request to provide information.
As early as April of this year, the FCC warned of the possibility of ending the U.S. operations of China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet (USA), citing national security risks.
The FCC officially designated China’s Huawei and ZTE as a threat to U.S. national security on July 30, prohibiting U.S. companies from using $8.3 billion in government funds to purchase from Huawei and ZTE.
Recent Comments