FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel Updates Members of Congress on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program

On October 10, 2023, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel provided Congress with an update on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. In the letter, Chairwoman Rosenworcel states that ss of October 2, 2023, reimbursement claim requests have been submitted for 122 of the 126 applications approved for the Reimbursement Program and the Commission has approved distributions of reimbursement funds for 112 of those applications, which now have deadlines to remove all Huawei and ZTE communications equipment and services ranging from October 8, 2023 to September 23, 2024, based on the initial distribution of funds to the recipients. The Commission subsequently received several requests to extend Reimbursement
Program recipients’ one-year removal, replacement, and disposal term by six months. On October 10, 2023, the Wireline Competition Bureau granted several of these extensions for a period of six months, finding that the lack of full funding had slowed their removal, replacement, and disposal processes. Rosenworcel called on Congress to fully fund the program so all recipients have the funding they need to replace the required communications equipment.