FCC’s move to target Huawei garners early praise

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving aggressively to ban companies from using federal subsidies for equipment from Chinese telecommunications groups Huawei and ZTE, and earning initial praise from lawmakers and industry groups.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former technology executive, told The Hill on Tuesday that he was “pleased to see the FCC address the threat to network security posed by vendors such as Huawei and ZTE,” calling it a “critical first step.”

But Warner also said Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai should have acted sooner and he “urged” the Trump administration to “work with Congress to pass legislation to help rural carriers remove legacy equipment and to harden the U.S. telecommunications supply chain.”

“There is a lot of work left to be done,” Warner added.

The proposed rules, rolled out by Pai on Monday, would bar U.S. telecom groups from using funds from the FCC’s Universal Services Fund (USF) to buy equipment from companies deemed national security threats, and would designate Huawei and ZTE as such.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) told The Hill on Tuesday that he would “want to look at” the proposals before commenting on them, but that he was “probably supportive of them.”