United States FCC: just five telcos have fulfilled ‘Rip and Replace’ obligations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has admitted that only five US telecoms operators have completed the removal of banned Chinese equipment from their respective networks. In the watchdog’s ‘Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program Third Report’ it noted that as of 29 December 2023 five recipients had submitted a final certification indicating that they had ‘permanently removed from its communications network, replaced, and disposed of all covered communications equipment or services that were in [its] network’. The report did not name the companies that have completed the removal of the equipment.

At the same date the Fund Administrator and Wireline Competition Bureau had received 12,983 reimbursement claims across 122 of the 126 applications approved for a funding allocation. To date, the Bureau and the Commission’s Office of the Managing Director have approved USD396.5 million in reimbursement claims for which funds have been fully disbursed to recipients or are in the process of being disbursed via the US Treasury. Recipients must complete the permanent removal, replacement and disposal of all Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks within one year of the first distribution of reimbursement funds.

The Bureau estimates that approximately 90% of recipients have made some progress, but not yet completed this work.

From Allnetfiber, From commsupdate.