FCC funds cover all of Windstream’s costs to remove Huawei gear

Windstream, a privately held company that provides wired broadband, has completed the removal of all Huawei equipment from its network. And it said the Federal Communication Commission's rip-and-replace reimbursement program will cover all its costs. Windstream’s network included Huawei gear acquired as part of its 2017 purchase of EarthLink. Huawei systems made up less than 1% of its network and provided services limited to Layer 1 transport. In 2019 Congress passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, mandating the removal of Huawei and ZTE equipment from American telecom networks. Congress allocated $1.9 billion to reimburse telecommunications operators for the cost of ripping and replacing the Chinese gear. However, the FCC received valid reimbursement requests totaling a whopping $4.98 billion. And Congress still has not acted to close the $3.08 billion funding gap. Because of the funding shortfall, the FCC has been paying companies a prorated percentage of 39.5% of their reimbursement costs. However, Windstream seems to have done well, navigating the system to rip and replace its Huawei gear. Windstream is in the process of receiving reimbursement funds, relying on its own capital to make the network changes.