US needs billions more to remove Huawei, ZTE
The US telecoms regulator needs an additional US$3 billion (A$4.4 billion) dollars to fund the removal from US networks of equipment made by Chinese telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE, bringing the total cost to US$4.9 billion, the agency told Congress.
"To fund all reasonable and supported cost estimates..., the Reimbursement Program will require US$4.98 billion, reflecting a current shortfall of US$3.08 billion," Jessica Rosenworcel, the chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a letter to Senator Maria Cantwell, who heads the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Since Congress only appropriated US$1.9 billion to fund the removal process, companies would be reimbursed for only about 40 percent of the costs, she added. In 2019, Congress passed a law tasking the FCC with compelling US telecoms carriers that receive federal subsidies to purge their networks of telecoms equipment that poses a national security risk, with promises of reimbursement.
