Replacing equipment Huawei and ZTE at providers US costs much more than expected

Carriers in the United States have requested $5.6 billion in refunds to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. The government had set aside $1.9 billion for this.

“We have received more than 181 requests from providers who have plans to remove and replace equipment that poses a threat to national security,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a letter to Congress.

According to the FCC, those applications have yet to be assessed, but the agency has already informed Congress that the refunds are currently $5.6 billion. “I look forward to working with Congress to ensure adequate funding is available,” Rosenworcel wrote.

The amount requested is much higher than the $1.9 billion that the US government had set aside for the Supply Chain Reimbursement Program. Providers with fewer than ten million customers were able to submit their refund requests between October 29, 2021 and January 28, 2022.

The program is also known in the US as the rip and replace program and was created after the American telecom watchdog FCC definitively labeled equipment from the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE as a threat to national security.