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Trump: no Huawei products for rural telecom
On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed a law barring rural U.S. telecom carriers from using U.S. subsidies to purchase network equipment from Huawei Technologies and other companies deemed a national security threat.
Additionally, the law requires the FCC to establish a program to offset the cost to small providers for necessary adjustments to their equipment and services, including the removal and replacement of banned components, a Reuters story reported. The law authorizes the USD 1 billion program but does not appropriate it.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called on Congress to “to appropriate the necessary funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any network equipment or services found to be a national security threat.”
Earlier this month at a congressional hearing, the head of the Competitive Carriers Association, Steven Barry, compared the position this law puts rural telecom carriers in to essentially asking them to rebuild an airplane in mid-flight, the Reuters story said.
