Huawei Continues to Push Back on FCC USF Tech Ban

Huawei, perhaps buoyed by Trump Administration reported easing-up on potential sanctions on the Chinese telecommunication company, has "supplemented the record" in its fight against a Federal Communications Commission proposal banning telecoms with "suspect" tech from broadband deployment subsidies in the Universal Service Fund (USF) program. It has been over a year since the FCC proposed the ban with so far no final item, though FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said that was because the FCC was still trying to come up with a definition of the suspect tech whose inclusion in a network was off limits. Smaller carriers, the ones often serving rural areas where closing the digital divide is a government priority, tend to be the ones with Huawei router and switcher technologies in their networks because it is cheaper. Huawei said in an ex parte presentation to the FCC that none of the FCC's commissioners would schedule a meeting with it to discuss its argument that "banning particular vendors on grounds of 'national security' will actually do little or nothing to protect the security of America’s telecommunications networks." It said that, rather, "forcing network operators to rip out and replace their existing equipment would pose a greater threat to network stability and security."