Huawei and the Homefront

Some lawmakers say the federal government should help small US wireless providers rip out and replace their existing Chinese network equipment. The Rural Wireless Association puts the collective price tag at $1 billion. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said he would raise the issue with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and push for a solution in the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We need to provide support to those small and rural communities who have already installed some of this equipment and will need help in covering the costs of removing and replacing it,” he said. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, concurs: “We need to explore incentives not only for these smaller carriers not to use this equipment but in a risk-based way to replace the equipment they’ve installed.”