It seems like Ajit Pai’s departure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) won’t make things easier for Huawei and ZTE. As reported today, the current FCC chairman just ordered certain US carriers to “rip and replace” equipment made by the two Chinese-owned companies.
Earlier this month, Pai announced that he will be leaving from his post as chairman of the commission on the day that the new President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office. Even though that is still around five weeks from now, Pai is continuing the administration’s actions against these Chinese manufacturers before his departure. But it is still uncertain whether or not Biden will reverse these orders once he becomes president.
Despite being among the top suppliers of 5G networking equipment throughout the world, Huawei and ZTE have been facing difficulties penetrating the US market. This is because of the US trade ban imposed last year, which was because they were considered as national security threats in the country.
This decision looks to be a very costly one for the FCC, especially since ripping and replacing Huawei gear would likely take two years to complete and would cost around $1.89 billion.
In Pai’s statement today, he said:
"Just a few minutes ago, we adopted rules requiring certain carriers to remove from their networks equipment that poses a threat to our national security and the integrity of the country’s communications networks and implementing the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program that will help smaller service providers shoulder the cost of removing and replacing such equipment.
Earlier this year, our Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued a final designation of Huawei Technologies Company, along with its parent, affiliate, and subsidiary companies, as a national security threat as part of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to protect our nation’s communications networks and their supply chains.And today, we affirm the Bureau’s Order designating Huawei as a threat to national security and our nation’s communications infrastructure. A laundry list of evidence before us compels this result and is set forth in our decision today.
But to summarize some of the main points, Huawei has a long and well-documented history of close ties to the Chinese military and intelligence communities, as well as the Chinese Communist Party, at every level of the company—all the way up to its founder. Huawei is subject to sweeping Chinese intelligence laws compelling Huawei’s assistance and cooperation with Chinese intelligence services and forbidding the disclosure of that assistance. Moreover, the concerns about Huawei aren’t just hypothetical: Independent entities have identified numerous security vulnerabilities in Huawei equipment and found it to be less secure than that of other companies—perhaps deliberately so.Our decision today to uphold the Bureau’s final designation order will have a direct impact on the security and integrity of the country’s networks. Carriers will continue to be unable to use support from the Commission’s Universal Service Fund to purchase network equipment or services from Huawei, thus helping to keep its insecure equipment out of our networks."
