The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has estimated that replacing Chinese-made telecom equipment in American networks will come with a substantial price tag.
On Friday, the FCC published a report that revealed US operators have already submitted requests totaling roughly $1.6 billion in reimbursement under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. These applications reflect claims from primarily small and rural carriers seeking funds to remove and replace equipment deemed insecure.
However, Congress has not yet allocated the funding necessary to reimburse those carriers, leaving many providers to carry the financial burden themselves for the time being.
Ajit Pai, then Chairman of the FCC, said in a statement:
“By identifying the presence of insecure equipment and services in our networks, we can now work to ensure that these networks—especially those of small and rural carriers—rely on infrastructure from trusted vendors.
I once again strongly urge Congress to appropriate funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any equipment or services determined to be a national security threat so that we can protect our networks and the myriad parts of our economy and society that rely upon them.”
Overall, the FCC estimates the total cost for US operators to remove and replace equipment from vendors such as Huawei and ZTE will be about $1.8 billion.
The United States has long expressed security concerns about Chinese telecom equipment. Major US carriers have largely avoided vendors like Huawei to preserve government contract eligibility, while some smaller and rural operators adopted Chinese gear due to its lower cost.
Pressure on allies
Amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, the US has intensified its efforts to limit the role of Chinese telecom vendors globally and has pressured allies to follow suit.
In the UK, a multi-year security review initially allowed the use of some Huawei equipment under strict controls, a decision that drew criticism from international partners, members of Parliament across party lines, and civil society groups. Relations between the UK and China soured further after Beijing enacted a national security law in Hong Kong, raising concerns that the law undermined the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Those developments renewed scrutiny of Chinese firms’ involvement in national infrastructure. Subsequent US sanctions limiting Huawei’s access to American chip technology, combined with the evolving geopolitical situation, led the UK government to reassess the risk. The UK later announced a ban on new purchases of Huawei equipment, effective from 31 December, and set a deadline of 2027 for the removal of existing Huawei gear from national networks.
Huawei warned that the ban would slow the UK’s digital progress, a claim widely challenged by technology experts. Most industry professionals argue that removing Huawei equipment will strengthen national network security.
“Huawei is not a sort of ordinary international telecommunications company, it’s an intimate part of the Chinese state,” former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove told Sky News. “And if you know anything about Chinese military strategy, they talk about the fusion of civil and military capabilities.”
In response, the UK has opened consultations with close partners—particularly countries in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and other like-minded D10 nations—about funding and procuring alternatives to Huawei equipment to reduce reliance on a single supplier and bolster supply-chain resilience.
(Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash)
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