Phone Carriers Fear Possible Order to Rip Out Huawei Equipment

Some small U.S. phone companies fear they’ll be forced to rip out network equipment made by Huawei, according to Bloomberg. The Rural Wireless Association in a filing to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission asked for funding and time to “rip and replace“ if U.S. officials order carriers to remove equipment from Huawei.

The rural wireless trade group submitted its filing to the FCC, which is considering barring some subsidy funding for carriers that use Huawei gear. “Rip-and-replace costs vary by carrier, but are significant,“ the trade group representing carriers with fewer than 100,000 subscribers said in the filing.

The agency under Chairman Ajit Pai, who was appointed to his post by Trump, has proposed barring telecommunications companies from using a federal subsidy to buy gear from companies such as Huawei and ZTE that are judged to be a national security risk. The agency hasn’t indicated when it may vote on the measure.

Japan’s top three carriers, NTT Docomo, SoftBank Group and KDDI, will ban equipment by Huawei and ZTE, Kyodo News reported. The news agency didn’t offer any specifics beyond saying that the ban would impact equipment at base stations.