FCC airs out Huawei/ZTE in $1.9B Supply Chain Reimbursement Program

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Sept. 27 released a public notice for communication service providers (CSPs) eligible for funding from the government's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, to remediate costs incurred by the removal, replacement, and disposal of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services obtained on or before June 30, 2020, that pose a national security risk.

As stated by the FCC:

By this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announces that the application filing window for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (Reimbursement Program) will open on Friday, October 29, 2021 at 12:00 AM ET and close on Friday, January 14, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET.

As directed by the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (Secure Networks Act), as amended, the Commission established the $1.9 billion Reimbursement Program to reimburse providers of advanced communications services with ten million or fewer customers for costs incurred in the removal, replacement, and disposal of covered communications equipment or services from their networks that pose a national security risk.

Covered communication equipment or services eligible for Reimbursement Program support is limited to the communications equipment or services produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company (Huawei) or ZTE Corporation (ZTE), that were obtained by providers on or before June 30, 2020. On August 3, 2021, the Bureau adopted the final procedures for the application filing and reimbursement process for the Reimbursement Program.

To participate in the Reimbursement Program, eligible providers must file an FCC Form 5640 Application Request for Funding Allocation, using the Bureau’s dedicated online application filing portal, which will be made available on the Reimbursement Program webpage, https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain, when the application filing window opens.

View the full FCC Public Notice.