The cost of removing Chinese equipment from US wireless networks is likely to be substantially higher than what the Chinese government was willing to pay. And to quote Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworth, US carriers have already asked for about $5.6 billion in compensation some time ago.
The funds, as requested, will be used to “destroy and replace” the existing communications infrastructure, which uses equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE. And if you are not aware of all the details of this situation, then back in 2019, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted to prohibit telecom operators operating in the United States of America from using the Universal Service Fund to subsidize the cost of purchasing network equipment from companies that considered a “threat to national security”. And yes, just the same, the first two companies that the agency added to this list were Huawei and ZTE.
While we have more work to do to review these applications, I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that there is enough funding available for this program to advance Congress’s security goals and ensure that America will continue to lead the way on #5G security.
— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcelFCC) February 4, 2022
A little later, namely in 2020, the former president of the country, Donald Trump, signed the Law on Secure and Reliable Telecommunications Networks, obliging telecom operators to replace equipment that had already been purchased from the two above-mentioned manufacturers. It should be mentioned that in the same year the commission established a program to reimburse the costs of small telecom operators for the replacement of equipment that the law considered a threat to national security. At the time, the agency estimated that it would cost service providers more than $1.8 billion to comply with the order, but that figure has since risen to $1.9 billion.
“While we still have quite a lot of work to do in reviewing these applications, I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that this program receives sufficient funding to meet Congressional security goals and ensure that America will continue to lead the way in 5G network security,” said Jessica Rosenworsel. And by the way, already now a variety of American telecom operators have sent as many as 181 applications for funding to the Federal Communications Commission.
