In the waning days of her leadership of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is hurrying along an effort to approve rules to auction AWS-3 spectrum and use proceeds from that sale to close a multi-billion-dollar funding gap in the agency’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
The reimbursement effort – better known as the FCC’s “rip and replace” program – funds the removal of communications equipment and services produced or provided by China-based Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation – as well as other providers that the Federal government may view as a national security threat.
According to Rosenworcel – who will be stepping down as FCC chairwoman later this month – the program has a $1.9 billion current appropriation from Congress versus telecom service provider demand totaling nearly $5 billion, thus leaving a $3.08 billion shortfall to complete the removal of the Chinese-made equipment that the government says poses national security and cybersecurity risks.
She has been a vocal proponent of more funding for the program, most recently in a Nov. 26 letter to members of Congress in which she emphasized “the urgent need for full funding of the Reimbursement Program.”
“The consequences of the continued lack of full funding for the Reimbursement Program are significant for our national security and rural communities,” Rosenworcel wrote in November. “Some participants in the Reimbursement Program have informed the commission that they fear that they may need to shut down portions of their networks and withdraw from this process without completing the removal of insecure equipment.”
“Because so many of the Reimbursement Program participants serve rural and remote areas of the country, any shut down of network facilities could remove the only provider available,” she warned. “Moreover, the inability of any participant to fully remove, replace, and dispose of equipment and services contemplated under the law raises serious national security concerns.”
In a Jan. 6 announcement, Rosenworcel urged her fellow FCC commissioners to quickly adopt rules to speed the spectrum auction whose proceeds would be used to help fund the rip and replace program “without further delay.”
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) approved by Congress last month provides the FCC with the authority to auction the AWS-3 spectrum licenses in its inventory. The auction authority included in the NDAA follows a lapse in the FCC’s spectrum auction authority that began in March 2023.
Rosenworcel tied into her arguments the recent China-sponsored hacks of U.S. telecom networks – although it remains unclear whether those were facilitated by Chinese-made equipment contained in U.S. networks.
“With ‘Salt Typhoon’ and other recent incidents, we are all acutely aware of the risk posed by Chinese hackers and intelligence services to our privacy, economy, and security,” she said.
“Today’s proposal is a critical step toward finally filling the shortfall in the Rip and Replace program,” Rosenworcel said, adding, “I am confident that the FCC’s world-leading and award-winning auction team will meet this important moment.”
