Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Web
  3. News

FCC says it will cost more than $1.8 billion to replace Huawei, ZTE equipment

Aaron Mamiit
By

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said that it will cost rural telecommunications providers at least $1.8 billion to replace the Huawei and ZTE equipment that are currently in use in their networks.

President Donald Trump has tagged Huawei and ZTE as threats to national security, extending the existing ban on U.S. companies using their equipment to May 2021. The FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as national security risks in June.

Recommended Videos

The FCC said in a public notice that based on the information that it collected from carriers supported by the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes coverage for underserved areas, it will take about $1.84 billion to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. The providers will be eligible to receive reimbursement for about $1.62 billion of that amount.

However, the FCC said that some providers may not have submitted their information for the purpose of the estimate, so the actual total cost will likely be higher.

“By identifying the presence of insecure equipment and services in our networks, we can now work to ensure that
these networks — especially those of small and rural carriers — rely on infrastructure from trusted vendors,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

Congress, meanwhile, has not yet appropriated the necessary funding for the reimbursements, which the carriers need as they will not be able to afford the replacements by themselves.

“I once again strongly urge Congress to appropriate funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any equipment or services determined to be a national security threat so that we can protect our networks and the myriad parts of our economy and society that rely upon them,” Pai added.

In July, the United Kingdom also declared that it was removing Huawei equipment from its 5G network by 2027, with the country’s carriers banned from buying 5G hardware from the Chinese manufacturer after December 31, 2020.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
U.K. cybersecurity agency warns against using ZTE telecom equipment
best ZTE Blade Z Max cases

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the United Kingdom has issued new advice warning the telecom industry against using equipment and services from ZTE. The statement was released April 15, the same day the United States Department of Commerce banned American companies from selling components to the company. While this event was not mentioned in the NCSC’s statement, it did mention the $1.2 billion fine ZTE received from the U.S. in March after violating sanctions.

A letter from Ian Levy, the NCSC’s technical director, that was circulated to network operators in the U.K.  says: “Use of ZTE equipment or services within existing telecommunications infrastructure would present risk to U.K. national security that could not be mitigated effectively or practicably,” according to the Financial Times, which saw a copy of the letter. A brief statement published on the NCSC’s website adds that it’s the watchdog’s “duty to highlight potential risks to the U.K.’s national security and provide advice based on our technical expertise.”

Read more
Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ earns more than $1 billion at international box office
Black Panther

Black Panther has reached a new milestone by being the latest movie to gross more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Marvel's latest superhero movie crossed this coveted threshold in less than a month's time, having been released on February 16.

The movie is only the 33rd film to earn more than $1 billion, but it is the 16th Disney movie and the fifth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to do so. Marvel's other entries into the billion-dollar-club include The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron,  Iron Man 3, and Captain America: Civil War. 

Read more
Google says its Safe Browsing tools now protect more than 3 billion devices
google job widget update chrome android app os

This year, Google's Safe Browsing tools celebrate their tenth anniversary, according to a blog post published earlier today. Since 2007, some iteration of the technology has been shielding users from potentially harmful sites — and as of 2017, the company claims that some 3 billion devices benefit from its protection.

In its simplest form, Safe Browsing is the warning you get when you try to access a potentially dangerous site. It might be offered up when your destination is suspected of carrying out phishing attacks, or distributing malware to visitors.

Read more