Huawei Prepares for Another Round of Legal Fight in the US

Chinese tech giant Huawei is preparing for a legal challenge against a US Federal Communications Commission decision to bar operators using government subsidies to purchase its equipment, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is expected to begin its formal challenge to the FCC order this week, the newspaper’s sources claim.

This is not a surprise after the company  gave strong comments in the aftermath of the FCC’s decision to ban companies from using federal funds to purchase kit from companies deemed a security risk. The prohibition would apply to companies claiming money from the Universal Service Fund, a fund to to aid network deployments for unconnected communities. It is one of a number of measures targeting China’s major vendors, with Huawei the most prominent.

Although not widely deployed in the country, equipment from Huawei and domestic rival ZTE is present in a number of networks run by smaller operators. In addition to banning the purchase of equipment from certain vendors, the FCC is also proposing rules which would force operators to strip-out network equipment already in use.