The FCC has granted extensions for rural telecom companies unable to „rip and replace“ Huawei and ZTE gear in their networks.
In July of 2021, the FCC, in a unanimous vote, said that Huawei and ZTE networking equipment should be ripped out of the networks belonging to the smaller U.S. telecom firms operating in rural America. These firms favored networking equipment made by Huawei and ZTE because of their low pricing. The cost to rip and replace the equipment sold by the two national security threats was estimated at $1.9 billion and while Congress agreed to that figure, the real-world cost is likely to be $3 billion more and this additional funding has not been approved by Congress.As a result, the FCC is giving some of the networks involved in its Huawei and ZTE rip and replace program additional time to remove Huawei and ZTE gear from their networks. Per LightReading, one example is Viaero Wireless. With a deadline to „rip and replace“ set for November 18th, the telecom firm wrote in a formal Extension Request back in May, „As a small, rural operation, we lack the financial resources to complete the project, as Congress has provided only 40% of the funds needed.
