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Musing on Huawei
 
FCC Bars Rural Carriers from Using $8.5 billion government fund to Buy Huawei or ZTE Equipment
December 01, 2019
 
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 Friday to designate China’s Huawei and ZTE as national security risks, barring their U.S. rural carrier customers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment.

The vote will help push Huawei and ZTE out of American telecommunications networks by blocking broadband subsidies from going to companies that don't rip out gear made by the two controversial Chinese telecom giants.  The commission's vote marks the latest bid by the federal government to curb the influence of these companies, which many U.S. policymakers say threatens national security and American dominance in the global race to roll out 5G networks. “Both companies have close ties to China’s communist government and military apparatus,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said ahead of the vote. “These concerns are by no means hypothetical,” Pai added, citing recent evidence of potential hidden backdoors built into Huawei equipment. These Chinese companies are the best in the world at what they do—selling cheap telecom equipment to carriers in rural areas of the U.S. But the U.S. government is taking no chances in ensuring the country’s next-gen 5G networks are safe from cyberspies in Beijing. From: POLITICO NEWSLETTERS