Telecommunication

US officials say Huawei can covertly access mobile-phone networks around the world through “back doors” designed for use by law enforcement, as Washington tries to persuade allies to exclude the Chinese company from their networks. Intelligence shows Huawei has had this secret capability for more than a decade, US officials said. Huawei rejected the allegations. The US kept the intelligence highly classified until late 2019, when American officials provided details to allies including the United Kingdom and Germany, apparently.

The US 5G Leadership Act of 2019 (S 1625) would establish a program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to reimburse certain US communications providers for the cost of removing and replacing any equipment made by Chinese companies, other companies subject to extrajudicial direction from a foreign government, or entities deemed to pose a national security risk to the US. Under the bill, recipients of federal funding would be prohibited from using US funds to purchase communications equipment from any of those entities.

The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (HR 4998) would establish a program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission, to reimburse certain US communications providers for the cost of removing and replacing equipment or services made or provided by entities, including certain companies based in China, that are deemed to pose a national security risk. The act would prohibit recipients of FCC subsidies from using those funds to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain communications equipment or services that could threaten national security.

USTelecom released its Industry Metrics and Trends 2020 report highlighting key elements of the broadband boom and investment story. USTelecom will weigh in soon explaining why the Federal Communications Commission should no longer mandate so-called network unbundling, a relic from a different (and far less competitive) era. Key highlights from the USTelecom Industry Metrics and Trends 2020:

Consumers and providers have made the transition from legacy voice to broadband and mobile communications services.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association said the Federal Communications Commission should not expand its ban of suspect tech identified as a threat to network security beyond participants in the FCC's Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy program. It said applying it to all networks regardless of whether or not the USF funds exceeds the FCC's authority and would duplicate efforts by other agencies. "There is no legal basis for the Commission to move from conditioning eligibility for a program it is statutorily authorized to administer on removal of certain equipment, to simply ban

The death of former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers at 78 brings back memories of the “broadbandit” era of telecoms around the turn of the century, when a bubble burst that inflicted huge damage on the industry and its investors, contributing to the rise to pre-eminence of China's Huawei today. Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2005, but was released in Dec 2019 on compassionate grounds to spend his final weeks with his family. He was convicted for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud at WorldCom that led to the biggest bankruptcy in US history at the time.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a legal challenge from Public Knowledge, The Greenlining Institute and other groups to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s 2017 rollback of certain Obama-era requirements for phone companies angling to transition off of legacy copper networks. “This is a victory for American consumers, who will benefit from faster fiber deployment and the increased availability of next-generation services,” Chairman Pai said. He has touted the deregulation as critical for allowing the transition to more advanced, IP-based networks.