US carriers want to junk three times more Chinese comms kit than planned
(2022/02/07)
- Reference: 1644204737
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/02/07/secure_and_trusted_communications_reimbursement_program_overrun/
- Source link:
The United States Federal Communications Commission has revealed that carriers have applied for $5.6 billion in funding to rip and replace China-made communications kit.
The applications were made under the [1]Secure And Trusted Communications Reimbursement Program , which offers to reimburse carriers with under ten million subscribers to ditch kit from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The FCC and Congress want them to do so because the USA fears made-in-China comms kit contains backdoors that Beijing could exploit to either eavesdrop on communications or cut them off entirely.
Replacing made-in-China products with kit designed by American firms is supposed to be a route to improved national security.
[2]
Congress set aside $1.9 billion to repay carriers who rip and replace Chinese kit and [3]applications to access the cash opened in November 2021, then closed on January 28 2022.
[4]
[5]
Last Friday, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel [6]advised [PDF] Congress that the FCC has totted up all the applications and found carriers have applied for $5.6 billion of reimbursements – almost triple the allotted funds.
In the FCC's announcement, Rosenworcel appears to acknowledge that the $3.7 billion gap between the allocated funding and carriers' requests is a problem, stating "I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that there is enough funding available for this program to advance Congress's security goals and ensure that the US will continue to lead the way on 5G security."
[7]
Which rather puts the ball in Congress's court. Having endorsed an effort to replace Huawei and ZTE kit on national security grounds, the USA's elected representatives won't be in a great position if they don't pay to get rid of equipment that's been declared dangerous.
[8]USA kicks out China Unicom, but FCC still in pursuit
[9]Federal Communications Commission proposed stricter rules on how telco carriers should report data breaches
[10]US distrust of Huawei linked in part to malicious software update in 2012
[11]Psst. Hey kid. Want a lipstick? Huawei slips new earbuds into cosmetics case
Waiting in the wings are the likes of Cisco, Juniper, and Arista, all of which stand to profit rather handsomely from the FCC's re-imbursements.
Whether they can deliver the products eligible carriers need is another matter. Cisco has already [12]warned that its component supply problems will persist deep into 2022, while Arista and Juniper have [13]advised that some components they need won't be available until mid-2023.
If Beijing really does have backdoors into Huawei and ZTE kit, it therefore has plenty of time to deploy them. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/fcc_huawei_replace/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/fcc_huawei_replace/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-379974A1.pdf
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/28/us_fcc_bans_china_unicom/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/13/fcc_data_rules/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/18/us_huawei_malware/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/19/earbud_products_huawei/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/18/cisco_q1_22/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/arista_juniper_q3_price_rises/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The applications were made under the [1]Secure And Trusted Communications Reimbursement Program , which offers to reimburse carriers with under ten million subscribers to ditch kit from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE. The FCC and Congress want them to do so because the USA fears made-in-China comms kit contains backdoors that Beijing could exploit to either eavesdrop on communications or cut them off entirely.
Replacing made-in-China products with kit designed by American firms is supposed to be a route to improved national security.
[2]
Congress set aside $1.9 billion to repay carriers who rip and replace Chinese kit and [3]applications to access the cash opened in November 2021, then closed on January 28 2022.
[4]
[5]
Last Friday, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel [6]advised [PDF] Congress that the FCC has totted up all the applications and found carriers have applied for $5.6 billion of reimbursements – almost triple the allotted funds.
In the FCC's announcement, Rosenworcel appears to acknowledge that the $3.7 billion gap between the allocated funding and carriers' requests is a problem, stating "I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that there is enough funding available for this program to advance Congress's security goals and ensure that the US will continue to lead the way on 5G security."
[7]
Which rather puts the ball in Congress's court. Having endorsed an effort to replace Huawei and ZTE kit on national security grounds, the USA's elected representatives won't be in a great position if they don't pay to get rid of equipment that's been declared dangerous.
[8]USA kicks out China Unicom, but FCC still in pursuit
[9]Federal Communications Commission proposed stricter rules on how telco carriers should report data breaches
[10]US distrust of Huawei linked in part to malicious software update in 2012
[11]Psst. Hey kid. Want a lipstick? Huawei slips new earbuds into cosmetics case
Waiting in the wings are the likes of Cisco, Juniper, and Arista, all of which stand to profit rather handsomely from the FCC's re-imbursements.
Whether they can deliver the products eligible carriers need is another matter. Cisco has already [12]warned that its component supply problems will persist deep into 2022, while Arista and Juniper have [13]advised that some components they need won't be available until mid-2023.
If Beijing really does have backdoors into Huawei and ZTE kit, it therefore has plenty of time to deploy them. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/fcc_huawei_replace/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/fcc_huawei_replace/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-379974A1.pdf
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YgCne8DhDY3gXRg7ZojT-gAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/28/us_fcc_bans_china_unicom/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/13/fcc_data_rules/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/18/us_huawei_malware/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/19/earbud_products_huawei/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/18/cisco_q1_22/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/arista_juniper_q3_price_rises/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Bigger Collapsed Picture .....
amanfromMars 1
See the program for what it really is ...... more incestuous QE to a failed fiat economic machine/corrupt perverted subversive and coersive system.
It was good while it lasted and thanks for all of the phishes but worlds have moved on into and onto greener pastures with bluer skies thinking about everything when different with all manner of things so much better than was ever able to be delivered before.
Pile aboard those constantly moving trains to novel destinations or forever be left behind to suffer and rot in the confines of one’s own self-destructive making and limited thinking.
Good on her!
Toss that particular grenade back in their laps & show them you're still holding the pin. If they refuse to cough up the cash to do what they require, the individuals in charge of getting it done have a perfect excuse for not doing it.
"You want me to rip out all this otherwise good stuff, I've told you it'll cost me buckets of cash, and all you'll give me to cover it is barely a third? Sorry, but it'll take us longer to get the job done if we're forced to devote so little funds to doing it."
But then again, given how much money the government has *already* shoveled into their coffers over the years, a threat of "Do it or we want our money back" would be enough of a cannon to their pea shooter to make them think twice about pissing off the money fountain controller.
On one hand I want the corps to get paid to do the job, but on the other hand I know they already have been a thousand times over.
*Sigh*
I'll get the popcorn, someone else bring the beer...