Ready or not, the Federal Communications Commission’s program to “rip and replace” suspect network technology is coming. And one trade association representing smaller carriers says there isn’t enough funding to do the job, and that means there could be ripping without replacing that puts some areas of the U.S. in danger of going dark. 

July 17 is the date by which carriers participating in the congressionally mandated Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program must submit their reimbursement requests — and they then have a year to finish the job — the Competitive Carriers Association pointed out Monday.

That job is to remove suspect network technology the U.S. government has deemed a potential threat to national security and replace it with tech that passes muster.

The problem is the demand has far outstripped the funding Congress set aside for reimbursement, so the FCC will only be able to pay 40 cents on the dollar until and unless Congress approves more funding.

“Today marks a dark deadline for carriers participating in the [FCC’s] Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to submit ‘rip-and-replace' reimbursement claims," CCA president Tim Donovan said. “Because Congress has not yet fully funded the Program, carriers are forced to undertake the endeavor of removing untrusted equipment with 40% of otherwise approved cost estimates to completely remove, replace and destroy this untrusted equipment. Absent full funding, networks in many rural and sensitive parts of our country are at ever-increasing risk of breaking down and going dark. Because of the funding shortfall, impacted carriers must make decisions to 'rip' but not 'replace,' including in areas where no other carrier provides service. This dire situation ignores our country’s national security and the connectivity of millions of Americans.”

Congress directed the FCC to reimburse carriers, including cable broadband and wireless providers, for the mandate to weed out tech like that of Huawei and ZTE, and gave it $1.895 billion to hand out. Unfortunately, the funding requests were for more than $5.5 billion. The FCC did not accept all of that total, but came close, saying it needed $4.98 billion to do the job.

The bipartisan leadership of the relevant FCC oversight committee signaled that they were pushing for a floor vote for a funding bill that passed unanimously out of committee.

Weighing in with a joint statement were House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.); ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.); Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-Ohio); and ranking member Doris Matsui (D-Calif.).

“We are extremely disappointed that the FCC’S rip and replace program has still not been fully funded by Congress," the said. "The longer Congress waits to address the funding shortfall in this program, the more we jeopardize America’s national security by leaving our networks vulnerable to espionage by adversaries like China."

They pointed out that in May, the Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act of 2023, which among other things provides that additional $3.08 billion for rip and replace. They also said they were working to get that floor vote ASAP.

It’s critical that we find a path forward as soon as possible to finish securing our networks and strengthening our national defense," they said.

The FCC in July 2021 voted to extend the reimbursement program to larger players. The proposed cap on reimbursing providers of advanced telecom services for the reasonable costs for removing, replacing and disposing of equipment had been those with two million customers. Now, the cap is 10 million.

The rip-and-replace money is going to four categories of recipients, prioritized as follows:

1. Applicants with fewer than 2 million customers;
2. “Accredited public or private non-commercial educational institutions providing their own facilities-based educational broadband services;”
3. “Health care providers and libraries;” and
4. Everyone else.

The FCC said that all the money it currently has will not even cover the eligible applicants in group one, which will only get 39.5 cents on the dollar.

It will take more money from Congress to cover the other 60.5 cents on the dollar and the health care providers and libraries.  

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed requiring foreign telecoms operating in the U.S. to have to periodically reapply for authorization to do so, giving the agency touch points to make sure such firms are operating in the public interest.

That was one of the noncontroversial items the politically tied agency approved at its April monthly meeting Thursday (April 20).

The FCC said that, for the first time, it would require companies with “existing authorizations” to file renewal applications. The move comes after the FCC revoked the Section 214 telecom licenses of a quartet of Chinese state-owned telecoms over perceived national security threats.

Currently the FCC grants such authorizations, but has no process for monitoring them for potential risks to national security. The required renewal will provide for that evaluation.

The FCC is also proposing a one-time collection of data from authorized foreign telecoms.

The FCC is asking for comment on two ways of handling that periodic review. One would be an authorization renewal every 10 years, the other a requirement for Section 214 authorization holders to periodically update information that would allow the FCC to reevaluate their status.

The agency is also considering proposed or possible improvements to the rules, including those related to: “(1) a 5% threshold for reportable ownership interests; (2) foreign-owned managed network service providers; (3) cross-border facilities information; (4) a facilities cybersecurity certification; (5) a facilities ‘covered list’ certification; and (6) other changes to Parts 1 and 63 of the Commission’s rules.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has rejected China Telecom's appeal of its designation as a supplier of suspect tech that the U.S. government will not fund with subsidies for new broadband buildouts, and that must be ripped and replaced from existing networks.

That is according to Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel — the D.C. Circuit had not posted its opinion to the court website at deadline.

“The FCC is determined to protect the security of the nation's communications networks and services,” Rosenworcel said of the decision by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit. “I am pleased with today's ruling, which upholds our decision last year to revoke and terminate China Telecom’s authority to provide communications service in the United States. 

“This action was based on the recommendation of national security agencies that found that China Telecom’s operations in the U.S. provided opportunities for increased Chinese state-sponsored cyber-activities, including economic espionage and the disruption and misrouting of U.S. communications traffic,” she said. ”There is no higher FCC responsibility than safeguarding our networks, and today’s ruling is a strong affirmation of our authority to do so.”

Also: China Telecom Has Some Explaining to Do

In 2020, The Trump FCC under chairman Ajit Pai, and on the recommendation of other executive branch agencies, essentially launched the revocation process by asking China Telecom to demonstrate why it should not have its license revoked. The Biden FCC, under then-acting chair Rosenworcel, defended that process.

China Telecom responded, saying that the revocation proceeding should have been conducted via a more formal hearing or in-person hearing before an administrative law judge, rather than through dueling written comments. But the FCC was unpersuaded and began the official revocation proceeding, asking the executive branch agencies to provide written comments on what it thought of China Telecom’s response. Their initial view of the company was that there were “substantial and unacceptable national security and law enforcement risks associated with [China Telecom’s] continued access to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.”

China Telecom appealed the FCC decision to the court, which the FCC strongly defended, and the court panel this week agreed.

China Telecom could appeal the panel’s decision to the full appeals court or to the Supreme Court. ▪️

A bill that would free up more money for the FCC’s suspect tech rip-and-replace program — mandated by Congress — did not make it into the $1.7 trillion must-pass omnibus appropriations bill this week, according to an unhappy Competitive Carriers Association. The fact that the bill did extend FCC auction authority for a few more months, though, was some solace.

In the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks legislation, Congress mandated, and the Federal Communications Commission fully supported, a program for compensating providers with 10 million customers or fewer for removing and replacing network technology the agency has concluded is a potential national security threat — a list that started with Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei and has since expanded.

The proposed cap on reimbursing providers of advanced telecom services for the reasonable costs for removing, replacing and disposing of equipment had been for providers with 2 million customers. Now, the cap is 10 million. (The FCC in July 2021 voted to extend the reimbursement program to larger players.)

Congress set aside $1.98 billion of funding in the legislation mandating the program, while the FCC said in February it had received more than $5.5 billion in funding requests. The FCC may not approve all of those asks, but it will clearly need more money than Congress set aside.

Also: FCC Opens Rip-and-Replace Window

“It is very disappointing that the remaining $3.08 billion shortfall in funding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program was not included as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act,” CCA president and CEO Stephen K. Berry said. “Many eligible small and rural carriers began work over two years ago, or are frozen without sufficient funding to begin work, to remove and replace covered equipment to answer Congress’s national security mandate to address the threat posed by Chinese equipment. Full funding is desperately needed for this work to be completed. Without adequate funding, not only their customers, but also the millions that roam on their networks each year, risk losing service. This is unacceptable in today’s day and age.”

Berry did give Congress credit for including legislation extending the FCC’s auction authority, which would have expired without reauthorization, until March — essentially kicking the can down the road. But he said he would have preferred a longer extension of that authority. ▪️

Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Mike Gallagher (Wis.) have introduced a bill, the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency (FACT) Act, that would require the FCC to maintain a list of all licensees with "sufficient" ties to authoritarian regimes, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The FCC has tried to boost broadcast disclosures of foreign-backed programming, but a court has said it did not have the authority to do so in the way it had wanted to, so it is taking another crack at it.

The commission, both under the direction of Congress and on its own initiative, has precluded potentially suspect network tech from companies tied to the Chinese government from being used in subsidized network buildouts and reportedly is considering a ban on any new devices from the companies.

Stefanik's bill would require the FCC to publish a list of companies with "licenses, authorizations or other grants of authority" with more than a 10% ownership interest from "foreign adversarial governments," which Stefanik says would include "China, Russia, Iran and North Korea."

She says that companies "owned" by those countries should not have access to U.S. critical infrastructure.

Also: Huawei Says FCC Ban Could Be Unconstitutional

Gallagher says that while Huawei and ZTE have been excluded from networks due to their suspect tech, many other companies under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party are still licensed to operate in the U.S.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr applauded the bill, a shout-out that was included in the reps.' announcement of the new bill.

"It is vital that we provide a full and transparent accounting of every entity with ties back into the CCP—and the governments of other authoritarian regimes—that are operating inside America’s tech and telecom markets, yet there has never been a public disclosure when it comes to those networks of relationships," said Carr. "This only makes it more difficult for the public and private sector alike to assess the likelihood that those connections can be leveraged to harm America’s national security interests....Publishing a list of all entities with FCC authorizations that have covered relationships with authoritarian regimes would aid the FCC in carrying out its mission of advancing America’s national security interest." ■

The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to ban new Huawei and ZTE device sales in the U.S., the first time the regulator has banned equipment on the basis of national security, according to various reports.

The FCC, with the support of Congress, has already cut any broadband subsidy funding to ZTE and Huawei network equipment, which it has concluded is a threat to national and network security. With the backstop of federal legislation, the FCC also requires any so-subsidized networks to rip and replace any of that suspect tech they have been using.

The issue is the conclusion that those companies have too-close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Also: Telecom Nets Seek $5 Billion-Plus to Rip and Replace

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former top communications tech executive, buttressed that reporting with a statement Thursday (Oct. 13) billed as a response to “the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision to ban new sales of Chinese-based Huawei and ZTE technologies on the bases of national security.”

A spokesperson said the senator’s response was to the widespread reporting, combined with the fact that the law requires the FCC to vote on such a ban before the end of the year.

Also: Huawei Says FCC Ban Could Be Unconstitutional

Warner, who has long warned of the dangers of using tech from those Chinese companies, said he was glad the FCC “finally took that step” and pointed out that a bipartisan group of senators has been calling out the threat from Huawei and ZTE for several years, including passing the Secure and Trusted Networks Act of 2019, which incentivized the FCC rip and replace program, and which Warner co-authored.

The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act required the FCC to identify tech companies — and their subsidiaries and affiliates — whose products and/or services posed a national security threat and reimburse them for removing that suspect tech. ■

The House has voted to extend the FCC's spectrum auction authority and to free up more money for a suspect network tech rip and replace program. The legislation, H.R. 7624, the “Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022,” now must pass the Senate and be signed by the President or the FCC's spectrum auction authority will soon expire.

The bill was introduced by Chairman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and 20 original bipartisan cosponsors.

Among the many things the bill does (see below for more) is to extend the FCC's spectrum auction authority to March 21, 2024. That authority expires September 30 of this year unless it is reauthorized.

The legislation would also make available additional frequencies in the 3.1–3.45 GHz band for shared federal and non-federal use, or a combination thereof, and provide more funds for the Secure and Trusted Reimbursement Program and a newly authorized Next Generation 9-1-1 grant program from spectrum auction proceeds. The bill passed by an en bloc vote of 336-90.

The FCC said that it is short $3.08 billion of the funds it needs to reimburse everyone eligible to receive money to rip and replace suspect network technology, as the FCC and Congress have mandated.

"The Spectrum Innovation Act preserves United States leadership in wireless technology and ensures Americans stay connected," said House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.). "Through this legislation, Congress is taking steps to protect national security, improve our public safety communications, and continue to push the Administration to manage our nation’s airwaves more effectively."

"CTIA commends the House for its swift passage of the Spectrum Innovation Act and the leadership of Chairman Doyle, Ranking Member Latta, and the bill's additional cosponsors," said CTIA senior VP, government affairs, Kelly Cole. "Authorizing and properly equipping the FCC to conduct auctions while filling our nation’s spectrum pipeline with key mid-band spectrum, is essential to fueling the rollout of robust 5G networks and protect America’s wireless leadership."

"NATE [The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association] applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022 and is grateful for the leadership of Chairman Doyle, Ranking Member Latta and the bill’s additional cosponsors,” said NATE President Todd Schlekeway. [Our] members are on the front lines transforming these valuable spectrum airwaves into connectivity for enterprise and consumers. This legislation will allow more industry access to valuable mid-band spectrum which equates to more deployment opportunities for NATE member companies and 5G connectivity for American citizens." ■

The Federal Communications Commission said it is $3.08 billion short on the funds it needs to reimburse all parties eligible to receive money to rip and replace suspect network technology, as the agency and Congress have mandated.

That came to light in a letter to legislators on Friday (July 15), the deadline FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel had set for coming up with a figure for how much of the $5.6 billion sought by network operators qualified for reimbursement.

That figure was $4.98 billion versus the $1.9 billion Congress appropriated for reimbursement.

The FCC had already signaled there would be a shortfall, and this week the House Energy & Commerce Committee favorably reported legislation that would include using the agency’s midband 5G wireless spectrum auction proceeds, wich often run into the tens of billions of dollars, to increase the reimbursement fund.

The rip-and-replace money is going to four categories of recipients, prioritized as follows: 

• 1.) Applicants with fewer than 2 million customers;
• 2.) “Accredited public or private non-commercial educational institutions providing their own facilities-based educational broadband services;”
• 3.) “Health care providers and libraries;” and
• 4.) Everyone else.

The FCC said that all the money it currently has will not even cover the eligible applicants in group one, which will only get 39.5 cents on the dollar.

It will take more money from Congress to cover the other 60.5 cents on the dollar and the health care providers and libraries. ▪️

The FCC says it will need to give applicants for funding to remove and replace suspect tech from their networks more time to "cure" their deficient applications for government funds to pay for that mandate, and so will not meet a June 15, 2022 deadline for reviewing the applications.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel informed Congress of that fact by way of a letter to the bipartisan leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce Committee, which together oversee the FCC.

She pointed out that Congress, in passing the Secure and Trusted Communications Act, gave the FCC the authority to extend the June 15, 2022, deadline for reviewing the applications to give applicants time to cure deficient requests. While the FCC back in February signaled it expected to make the deadline, she said the review to date "has concluded that many of the applications the agency has received are materially deficient," either because their cost estimates are inadequate or they lack supporting material.

Also: ZTE Challenges Suspect Tech Label

Rosenworcel said that given all those deficiencies, "we will not be able to issue funding allocations or determine true demand until the end of the statutory cure period."

She did say the FCC would update Congress on the timetable, but said it expected to be able to complete the review in "a matter of weeks" once new, cured, applications are filed, and will at least provide that update by June 15.

So far, the applicants are seeking over $5 billion in rip and replace reimbursement costs, while Congress has set aside only $1 billion, Rosenworcel pointed out, so the FCC is going to have to go back to the well unless their cost estimates are wildly inflated, or alternately only reimburse some expenses.

The figure was initially $5.6 billion, but the FCC review has shaved $300 million off that, so the current figure is $5.3 billion.

In the meantime, "should total allocation demand exceed the funding available," as seems likely, the FCC will have to triage the payments per a congressionally mandated prioritization process. ■

Communications providers who must rip and replace untrusted technology from their networks, per Congress' directive, have applied for about $5.6 billion from the Federal Communications Commission to compensate them. That’s a lot more than the regulator had estimated and multiples of what Congress allocated for the purpose.

That is according to FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a letter responding to a query from Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

Also: ZTE Challenges Suspect Tech Label

Congress only appropriated $1.9 billion in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, which compensates smaller providers -- 10 million and fewer customers -- for removing and replacing network tech the FCC has concluded is a potential national security threat, a list that started with ZTE and Huawei.

The FCC is still reviewing the applications but has a deadline of June 15 to approve or deny them.

Rosenworcel told Sen. Peters the FCC should have a better sense of why the demand exceeded expectations after that, but in the meantime said there were three primary reasons:

1) The FCC's cost estimate was based on swapping out ZTE and Huawei tech and a data collection from 50 companies that said it would cost about $1.83 billion to do that. That was part of an FCC program that predated Congress' mandate in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. The FCC wound up getting applications from 96 applicants.

2) The FCC's estimate did not include all the companies that became eligible under Congress' mandate when it expanded that eligibility from companies with 2 million or fewer subs to ones with 10 million or fewer. That added $1.5 billion to the application pot, Rosenworcel said.

3) Inflation, supply chain issues, and Congress' tight (one-year) turnaround have added about $2 billion in increased costs.

If, as it would appear, there will be more demand than there are dollars to meet them, the FCC will have to prioritize the outlay per Congress' directive, she told Peters, which means the money goes first to systems with 2 million customers or fewer, followed by those that are “ ‘accredited public or private non-commercial educational institutions providing their own facilities-based educational broadband service and health care providers and libraries providing advanced communications service,’ followed by everyone else.”

She also points out that the FCC will look at the funding requests and only cover reasonable costs. ■

The FCC has expanded the list of foreign companies whose tech is not welcome in U.S. networks.

The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act required the FCC to identify tech companies -- and their subsidiaries and affiliates -- whose products and/or services posed a national security threat.

The FCC said Friday that AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp., and China Mobile International USA Inc. have all been added to the "covered list" the FCC must publish and maintain.

Also: Huawei Says FCC Ban Could Be Unconstitutional

Huawai and ZTE were the first to make the list along with Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision, and Dahua. This week's trio marks the second wave of untrusted companies by the reckoning of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

“Today’s action is the latest in the FCC’s ongoing efforts, as part of the greater whole-of-government approach, to strengthen America’s communications networks against national security threats, including examining the foreign ownership of telecommunications companies providing service in the United States and revoking the authorization to operate where necessary," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

“The FCC’s decision to add these three entities to our Covered List is welcome news," said Commissioner Brendan Carr. "The FCC plays a critical role in securing our nation’s communications networks, and keeping our Covered List up to date is an important tool we have at our disposal to do just that....I applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel for working closely with our partners in the Executive Branch on these updates. As we continue our work to secure America’s communications networks, I am confident that we will have more entities to add to our Covered List." ■

The House has narrowly passed the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Preeminence in Technology and Economic Strength) Act, which among many other things, provides $1.5 billion for securing the wireless mobile broadband market supply chain. 

The vote was 222-210, with only one Republican voting for the bill, and one Democrat opposing. A Senate version has already passed and will have to be reconciled with the House bill.

The bill was hailed by House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). His committee supplied many elements of the bill including the wireless funding, $45 billion for supply chain resilience.

The bill also has $52 billion in funding to boost domestic semiconductor production, another supply-chain issue that affects network security.

Democrats billed the spending as a way to better compete with China, but Republicans said it would do the opposite.

“This bill is essential to our supply chains, our economy, and our workers, and will unleash the next generation of innovation and manufacturing in the United States,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “I’m urging Congress to move quickly to begin negotiations and work out the differences between the bills, focus on areas of common agreement, and get a final version to President Biden’s desk for his signature.”

“The America COMPETES Act provides a critical boost to America’s technological leadership, economic competitiveness, and national security," said Jason Oxman, president of tech trade association ITI. "Its prioritization of research and development, entrepreneurship, and science will strengthen the national innovation ecosystem. Importantly, its investments in domestic semiconductor production will create a more resilient supply chain in the long-term."

Republicans saw it quite differently.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the ranking member of Energy & Commerce, branded it the “America Concedes Act” and said it was reckless spending that would “surrender” the country’s competitive edge, not sharpen it. “If the Democrats wanted to make America more competitive, they would abandon their destructive agenda and work with us to reform burdensome permitting, licensing, and regulatory regimes,” she said on the House floor in advance of the vote.

She called the bill a massive government handout to benefit political allies, and went so far to say that the Democrats‘ approach actually takes a page out of the Chinese Communist Party of “stealing, cheating and using their centrally controlled economy to pick winners and losers through massive government subsidies.”

One of the issues with the domestic communications supply chain is that it contains technology from Chinese companies that can undercut U.S. competitors because they have been subsidized by the government.

The broadband and chip funding had bipartisan support, but Rodgers said labor restrictions had been added that “are only going to make it harder for us to lead in 5G and next-generation communications.” 

"This bill was built on numerous bipartisan elements and on shared bipartisan agreement on the need to act," said President Biden. "If House Republicans are serious about lowering prices, making our economy stronger, and competing with China from a position of strength, then they should come to the table and support this legislation, which does just that."■

The Commerce Department has identified drone maker DJI, the Shenzhen, China-based company whose drones are used in TV and movie production, among other things, as a company that is acting "contrary to the foreign policy or national security interests" of the U.S. and has added it to the Entity List.

That means it will limit the export, re-export and transfer of the technology, which includes gimbal cameras and camera stabilizers that have been used in a number of TV and movie productions, according to the DJI website, including Watchmen on HBO, Dead to Me and Mindhunter for Netflix, and Castle Rock on Hulu.

DJI is one of 34 Chinese companies added to Commerce's Entity List this week. That is the same list to which Huawei and ZTE were added for their ties to the Chinese government.

“Today’s decision by the Treasury Department to add DJI to its investment blacklist is welcome news," said FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who called for a review of DJI back in October over security concerns. "Treasury’s determination that DJI is actively supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to surveil and repress religious minorities in China only adds urgency to my call for national security agencies to provide their views on adding DJI to the FCC’s Covered List.”

That is a list of suspect tech companies--including ZTE and Huawei--that can't get government subsidy money. ■

The House on Thursday (Dec. 2) passed three communications-related bills, including one requiring the Federal Communications Commission to start kicking the tires on 6G wireless.

The bills are the FUTURE Networks Act (HR 4045), the Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act (HR 2685) and the American Cybersecurity Literacy Act (HR 4055).

The Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhanced Networks [FUTURE] Act directs the FCC to create a 6G task force comprising public interest groups, communications network businesses (though not ones considered to be “not trusted,” the law makes clear), and government stakeholders.

The bill defines “not trusted" as technology “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the influence of a foreign adversary” or that otherwise “poses a threat to the national security of the United States.”

Within a year, the FCC must report back to Congress on, among other things, the status of industry-led standards, supply chain security limitations, and how to coordinate siting, deployment and adoption of 6G.

The task force will have to produce a draft of that report within six months and put it out for public comment.

The bills together are meant to ensure the country leads in next-generation communications technology, said the Republican leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, adding that they “will strengthen our cybersecurity awareness, bolster our leadership in 6G technology and reinforce the security of our mobile communications network.”

The bills passed out of the committee back in July.

The “Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act,” which requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Biden administration's chief telecom policy advisory arm, to study and report on the cybersecurity of mobile broadband nets and their susceptibility to attacks and surveillance by “adversaries.”

HR 4055, the “American Cybersecurity Literacy Act,” would require the NTIA to educate the public about cybersecurity risks and best practices.

“The Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act gives policymakers a better understanding of the state of the cybersecurity in our wireless networks, which is a matter of national security,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who was the driving force behind that and the American Cybersecurity Literacy Act, said.

In a move that is a big blow to some big tech companies, Congress has voted to ban new equipment licenses for Chinese telecoms Huawei, ZTE and any other technology company the government concludes poses a national security threat, closing what one of the bill's sponsors called a “dangerous loophole.”

That came with the Senate‘s unanimous passage of the Secure Equipment Act, which requires the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules to that effect. The House has already passed the bill, so it will only take a stroke of the President's pen to make it the new law of the land.

Currently, in addition to ZTE and Huawei, companies on the FCC's suspect tech list are Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua.

The FCC was directed by the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to maintain a list of equipment and services that pose that national security risk.

The FCC has already adopted rules requiring networks to rip and replace any suspect tech that was bought with government subsidy money, but the new bill extends that crackdown to tech outside the subsidy programs. Now that tech will not be able to get FCC approval for use by any U.S. networks.

The bill was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Rubio has been a big critic of Chinese technology in U.S networks.

“In today’s increasingly connected world, we must animate our technology with our values,” Markey said. “That’s why our bipartisan legislation will keep compromised equipment out of U.S. telecommunications networks and ensure our technology is safe for consumers and secure for the United States.”

“Chinese state-directed companies like Huawei and ZTE are known national security threats and have no place in our telecommunications network,” said Rubio. “I am grateful that the Senate and House passed this bill, which will help keep compromised equipment from bad actors out of critical American infrastructure.”

“I applaud Senator Rubio and Senator Markey as well as Republican Whip [Steve] Scalise [R-La.] and Congresswoman [Anna] Eshoo [D-Calif.] [who introduced the bill in the House] for their leadership and work to secure America’s communications networks," said FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who called for closing what he has labeled the “Huawei loophole.” 

“Their work in the Senate and House to secure passage of this legislation, which is now headed to the President’s desk for his signature, will help to ensure that insecure gear from companies like Huawei and ZTE can no longer be inserted into America’s communications networks,” Carr said.

“Congratulations to Congresswoman Eshoo and Congressmen Scalise on the passage of their Secure Equipment Act of 2021," said FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. "Once signed, this important legislation will give the FCC crucial authority to protect American networks from untrustworthy equipment that can serve as footholds for China and other foreign powers to infiltrate U.S. telecommunications networks and threaten our national security. But this legislation does not complete the work of protecting our digital sovereignty. In the current digital security landscape, inadvertent flaws in wireless edge devices are as much a threat as intentionally created backdoors. The FCC must continue to engage with industry and other parts of government to identify and eliminate weaknesses that can be exploited by our adversaries.”

The House has passed four communications-related bills including one that would expand the ban on suspect tech. All four passed out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee last summer by voice vote, meaning none were controversial. They all must still be passed by the Senate to make it to President Joe Biden‘s desk.

The “Secure Equipment Act of 2021” (HR 3919) — sponsored by Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) — would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from approving any wireless equipment authorization for a tech company on the list of companies that pose a national security risk. That list currently includes Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE.

The FCC, under its own initiative and with the direction of Congress in the Secure and Trusted Communications Act, published a list of tech suppliers deemed national security threats and prohibited the use of federal funds for telecom networks using that tech: the highest-profile companies on that list were Huawei and ZTE. Congress also funded the removal that suspect tech from existing government-funded buildouts.

Currently, the FCC is disallowing the use of technology from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua in U.S. broadband networks built out with government subsidy money. But the prohibition has not extended to networks not built with government bucks. This bill expands the ban by not allowing them to get FCC authorization for use in any U.S. network.

The degree to which keeping suspect tech out of those U.S. networks is a bipartisan priority was evident in the lopsided vote, which was 420-4.

The House also passed:

• H.R. 4067, the “Communications Security Advisory Act of 2021,” which would codify and make permanent the FCC‘s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council and require biennial reporting to the FCC and public on how to improve communications network.

• H.R. 4032, the “Open RAN Outreach Act,” which directs NTIA to reach out and help small network providers who want to offer Open-RAN (ORAN) networks and other open architectures.

• H.R. 4028, the “Information and Communication Technology Strategy Act,” which would direct the Secretary of Commerce to report to Congress on the state of the economic competitiveness of the trusted vendors the U.S. will rely on to replace the untrusted ones being weeded out of U.S. nets and how the government can help insure their competitiveness. China has helped insure the competitiveness of untrusted nets by subsidizing their tech giants.

All four of the bills advanced out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by a voice vote during a full committee markup in July. 

The bills' passage brought bipartisan praise from the other side of the Hill. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who introduced the Senate version of the Secure Equipment Act, applauded House passage and urged the Senate to follow suit.

“Today the House continued its work to strengthen our nation’s telecommunications infrastructure for the future by overwhelmingly passing four bipartisan bills,” the senators said in a statement. “Together, these bills will boost network reliability, protect against suspect equipment that poses a risk to our national security, support small communications network providers, and bolster the economic competitiveness of our technology supply chains. We commend the bipartisan work that went into these bills that advanced out of our committee in July and hope that the Senate will take action soon.”

Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr has called on the agency to add DJI, a major Chinese drone company, to its list of suspect tech companies for which federal dollars can't be spent due to the perceived national security threat, characterizing DJI as a potential “Huawei on wings.”

The Republican commissioner‘s remarks came at an event appropriately titled “Unacceptable Risk: Expanding the FCC’s Covered List to Reflect Reality.”

Also Read: FCC to Walk Through Rip-and-Replace Program

The Huawei reference is to one of the first two Chinese telecom equipment companies — ZTE was the other — placed by the FCC on a list of tech being disallowed or scrubbed from U.S. networks funded with government subsidies. The FCC is also considering whether to extend that ban to networks not built with government dollars.

The Tuesday (Oct. 19) event was hosted by the also appropriately named China Tech Threat.

The company immediately defended the security of its technology.

“DJI drones are safe and secure for critical and sensitive operations," said Adam Lisberg, director of corporate communications, North America ,for JDI. "Our systems are designed so customers never have to share their photos, videos or flight logs with anyone, including DJI. The data security architecture that protects this information has been repeatedly validated by U.S. government agencies as well as respected private cybersecurity analysts. Our customers know that DJI drones remain the most capable and most affordable products for a wide variety of uses, including sensitive industrial and government work.”

Carr pointed out at the event that DJI has more than 50% of the U.S. drone market and pointed to research that found “large quantities” of personal information from a drone operator's smart phone could conceivably be relayed to China from the drones.

He said the prospect was particularly troubling given that the Chinese government can compel DJI to help it spy on the U.S. or other countries. The Commerce Department has raised red flags about the company related to China‘s surveillance of its ethnic Uyghur minority.

Also Read: FCC Denies ZTE Appeal of Suspect Tech Label

Add to that the reports that the Secret Service and FBI have bought DJI drones, and Carr said the need for quick action is clear.

Carr has long called for cracking down on Chinese tech in U.S. networks, which the FCC is in the process of doing, including by funding the ripping and replacing of tech in current networks, generally smaller ones where tech companies like Huawei and ZTE can offer cheaper equipment due to subsidies from the Chinese government.

House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said he plans an Oct. 6 hearing on strengthening communications networks, given consumers’ reliance on them for health care, work, news, entertainment and connecting with loved ones.

Accessibility and affordability of those networks are a priority of the committee, as is cybersecurity.

Also Read: House E&C Extends Suspect Tech Ban to Non-Subsidized Nets

“Next week, we will consider several bills designed to advance that mission,” Pallone and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), the Technology Subcommittee chairman, said in a joint statement. “We look forward to considering these bills and working together on common-sense policies that enable these networks to meet consumers’ needs, now and into the future.”

One way Congress has been promoting future-proof networks is to disallow technology that represents a threat to national security to remain in U.S. networks, primarily by directing the FCC to deny broadband subsidy funding to suppliers of suspect technology.

Another is to emphasize that competition and affordability should be part of the definition of universal access to broadband networks, both wired and wireless.

Wanzhou Meng, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom and key 5G tech player Huawei, has struck a prosecution agreement and was subsequently arraigned on charges she conspired to commit bank and wire fraud.

Huawei is one of a handful of Chinese companies whose network tech the Federal Communications Commission has deemed a threat to national security and will be disallowed in government-funded broadband networks.

DOJ: Huawei Indicted on New Charges

Meng was arrested by the Canadian government in 2018 at the request of the U.S. The agreement means she will now be released.

“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” Nicole Boeckmann, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

DOJ said that as Huawei CFO, Meng made misrepresentations to a financial institution in an effort to preserve Huawei's banking relationship, which DOJ said essentially confirms its allegations that Meng and other Huawei employees conspired to misrepresent its activities in Iran in what was a "consistent pattern of deception.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee Wednesday (July 21) approved a bunch of bills meant to promote cybersecurity and network supply chains, including one--the Secure Equipment Act of 2021--extending the FCC's ban on using tech from suspect Chinese suppliers.

The bills now go to the House for a vote.

The FCC, under its own initiative and with the direction of Congress in the Secure and Trusted Communications Act, published a list of tech suppliers deemed national security threats and prohibited the use of federal funds for telecom networks using that tech--the highest profile companies on that list were Huawei and ZTE.

Currently, the FCC is disallowing the use of technology from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua in U.S. broadband networks built out with government subsidy money. The bipartisan bill, introduced by  introduced by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), extends that to the use of those in any U.S. network by prohibiting the FCC from reviewing or providing licenses for new equipment from companies on that FCC list of national security threats.

Also Read: New Bill Would Ban Suspect Tech from All U.S. Nets

But while the FCC's ban includes a funded "rip-and-replace" program for scrubbing the Chinese-backed tech from existing networks, the bill only applies retroactively, meaning nets not built with government money don't have to rip or replace, but going forward are disallowed from using those suppliers, or others the FCC may identify as threats to network--and national-security.

A similar bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Also Read: FCC Ups Rip-and-Replace Funding Cap

That was just one of eight cybersecurity bills approved by the Committee. Also approved were:

H.R. 2685, the “Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act,” which requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Biden Administration's chief telecom policy advisory arm, to study and report on the cybersecurity of mobile broadband nets and their susceptibility to attacks and surveillance by "adversaries."

H.R. 4028, the “Information and Communication Technology Strategy Act, which would direct the Secretary of Commerce to report to Congress on the state of the economic competitiveness of the trusted vendors the U.S. will rely on to replace the untrusted ones being weeded out of U.S. nets and how the government can help insure their competitiveness. China has helped insure the competitiveness of untrusted nets by subsidizing their tech giants.

H.R. 4032, the “Open RAN Outreach Act,” which directs NTIA to reach out and help small network providers who want to offer Open-RAN (ORAN) networks and other open architectures. 

Also Read: Senators Ask Biden for $3 Billion for ORAN Alternative to Chinese Tech

H.R. 4045, the “Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhanced Networks (FUTURE Networks) Act," which would require the FCC to study 6G networks, with members of a 6G task force appointed by the FCC chair and reporting back to Congress on its finding. 

H.R. 4046, the “NTIA Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act,” which would authorize the NTIA's Office of Policy Analysis and Development and re-christen it the Office of Policy Development and Cybersecurity. The Office administers the network security information sharing program established by Congress in the Secure and Trusted Communications Act.

H.R. 4067, the “Communications Security Advisory Act of 2021,” which would codify the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council and require biennial reporting to the FCC and public on how to improve communications network.

H.R. 4055, the “American Cybersecurity Literacy Act,” which would require NTIA to educate the public about cybersecurity risks and best practices. 

All the bills were approved by voice vote, meaning no roll call of who voted how was taken.

“Today I am proud that the Energy and Commerce Committee came together to pass urgently needed legislation that will promote more secure networks and supply chains, bringing us one step closer to a safer and more secure wireless future," said House E&C chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.).

FCC chairman Ajit Pai drew a sharp distinction between how the previous Democratic administration treated China and the current one when it comes to communications equipment and networks.

Also Read: FCC Makes Huawei Threat Designation Official

That came in remarks at "A Conversation with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai" web event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday (Jan. 5), which were billed as something of a "victory lap" as the chairman winds down his tenure.

Pai said the government under President Obama welcomed the rise of a "stable, prosperous and peaceful" China, suggesting the U.S. and China could work together, while the FCC under then-chairman Tom Wheeler allowed federal subsidies to be used to purchase equipment from "virtually any company," including Huawei and ZTE. 

Pai suggested that was a 'naïve' approach filled with "aspirational talk."

By contrast, Pai said, the Trump administration and the FCC recognized the serious challenges China represented, and took the "hard" action to, among other things, rip and replace suspect tech from U.S. networks and exclude suspect companies from U.S. network connections.

Also Read: FCC Denies ZTE Appeal

Those challenges include a "disturbing and growing pattern of behavior," like Zoom allegedly shutting down an online memorial service for the victims of the Tiananmen Square protest and the concealment of China's role in COVID-19, per Pai.

Pai said he had learned back in a Harvard class about governments wielding both hard and soft power, but did not anticipate that his job would eventually entail employing that lesson, such as identifying threats -- like Huawei and ZTE -- and taking strong action. Both he said have been the hallmarks of his tenure, which is coming to a close Jan. 20.

Pai said that the international tide has turned toward the U.S. position on 5G security, citing countries including Greece, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia and Denmark, as well as the UK's decision last July to reverse course and remove suspect tech from its networks. "The momentum is unmistakable and unmistakably positive," he said. 

Following his remarks, Pai was interviewed remotely by CSIS CEO John Hamre.

Hamre said the reason Huawei tech was used is that the U.S. did not have a comparable supplier. Pai said he thought its success was also due to Huawei stealing intellectual property from the U.S. He said now the issue is more that China is subsidizing Huawei, which gives it a leg up, with its bids sometimes 30% to 70% lower than competitors.

He said that there was no question that Huawei was in a position of strength in a limited market. He said that open RAN technology could allow the U.S. to break that consolidation advantage for Huawei.

Asked if there had been a market failure that prevented the U.S. from being competitive, Pai said there were companies like Nortel and Lucent a couple of decades ago, but unable to get similar returns of a Huawei, it was tough to stay in business as a non-subsidized competitor going up against someone "flooding the zone."

Hamre agreed that competing against state capital is a formidable thing. But he said China got a march on U.S. companies that weren't producing products for the market.

Asked about the debate over the Section 230 immunity provision from civil suits for social media platforms' moderation of third-party content, Pai reiterated that the FCC should think about how that should be interpreted. He said he would "see where it goes," but did not think the issue was going away. He has also said that he believes the FCC has the authority, and the competence, to look at the section. 

Hamre said he did not think the FCC would wind up being the arbiter of a final decision on the section.

The FCC plans to vote next month on the framework for preventing the use of suspect tech in U.S. networks and ripping and replacing existing suspect tech, including a process for identifying which tech to expel.

The FCC has already formally designated Huawei and ZTE as suspect tech and excluded them from $8.3 billion in Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy money.

Related: Senate Bill Would Boost Rip-and-Replace Eligibility

The item would adopt rules requiring Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) to "remove and replace covered equipment from their networks," and create a "Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program" to fund smaller carriers' removal and replacement of suspect tech, at least once Congress has appropriated the $1.6 billion the FCC has estimated it will cost.

The chairman has circulated a Second Report and Order to the other commissioners that would specifically:

•  "Adopt rules to publish and modify a list of communications equipment and services that Congress or enumerated national security agencies or interagency bodies with appropriate national security expertise determine pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of its people.

• "Prohibit the use of any Federal subsidy that is made available through a program administered by the Commission and that provides funds to be used for the capital expenditures necessary for the provision of advanced communications service to purchase, rent, or otherwise obtain any covered communications equipment or services.

• "Establish the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Reimbursement Program, which will provide funds for the removal, replacement, and disposal of covered communications equipment and services, and condition the start of the program on Congress appropriating the funds the Commission estimates that program will cost.

• "Require Eligible Telecommunications Carriers and participants in the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Reimbursement Program to remove, replace, and dispose of covered communications equipment and services in their networks.

• "Require all providers of advanced communications services to report whether their networks use covered communications equipment or services acquired after August 14, 2018."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai blogged that those are "critical next steps toward securing our communications networks." 

The FCC plans to signal to Congress that the commission's ongoing procedure to prevent broadband subsidy money from being used to subsidize suspect tech in U.S. networks effectively implements Congress's subsequent mandate to do the same thing. 

That is according to the FCC's agenda for the July 16 public meeting. 

The FCC back in November 2019 voted to ban the use of Universal Service Funds for equipment or services from companies that pose a national security threat to networks or the supply chain, initially tentatively concluding that at least two companies, Chinese telecoms Huawei and ZTE, met that definition. 

The President signed the Hill bill March 12, a bill that sounded pretty redundant, but also provided its bipartisan imprimatur on the FCC action. 

Related: FCC Seeks Comment on Excluding Suspect Tech 

The FCC will vote on a declaratory ruling that concludes that the FCC order fulfills its obligation to implement the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (Secure Networks Act), which put Congress' stake in ground the FCC had already plowed and planted. 

The FCC item also includes a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) seeking comment on implementing other sections of the act.  

One thing both the FCC and Congress anticipated was a further effort to rip and replace suspect tech from existing networks. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said when announcing the item that he hoped Congress will follow up with an estimated $2 billion to pay for "small, rural carriers" to scrub that insecure equipment. The Hill bill had anticipated that figure at $1 billion.