Huawei Slams FCC Efforts to Bar It From Federal Communications Program

The Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to block the Chinese company Huawei from US telecommunications contracts and supply chains is unconstitutional, misguided, “arbitrary and capricious,” Huawei said. The Chinese telecom giant devoted more than 100 pages to savaging the FCC proposal, which would deny money from the commission’s Universal Service Fund to companies that purchase equipment or services from companies that are deemed threats to national security. That list would include Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom. US intelligence officials fear the companies could be used by Chinese government hackers to spy on Americans or launch destructive cyberattacks.

Huawei took two main tacks in its argument against the FCC proposal. First, the company argued that the proposal stretches beyond the bounds of FCC’s powers and violates Huawei’s constitutional right to due process. Second, the company argued that the commission doesn’t have a reasonable basis for believing that Huawei poses a national security threat to the affected phone and internet providers.