In the latest reports coming out of the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has said that the country now classifies Huawei and ZTE as threats to national security. This decision will be a huge blow to the companies’ aim of 5G technology domination.
According to the FCC’s official statement on 30th June 2020, both Huawei Technologies Company (Huawei) and ZTE Corporation (ZTE) as well as their parents, affiliates and subsidiaries are under this ‘threats to national security ban’.
The commission further announced:
“As a result of today’s action, money from the FCC’s $8.3 billion a year Universal Service Fund may no longer be used to purchase, obtain, maintain, improve, modify, or otherwise support any equipment or services produced or provided by these suppliers.”
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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also said that they have an ‘overwhelming weight of evidence’. Pai added that both affected entities have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus.
In conclusion, Ajit Pai said:
“We cannot and will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise our critical communications infrastructure. Today’s action will also protect the FCC’s Universal Service Fund—money that comes from fees paid by American consumers and businesses on their phone bills—from being used to underwrite these suppliers, which threaten our national security.”
The commission had previously banned the use of equipment or services that endangers national security in November 2019. The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau informed the FCC’s decision; and the ban on Huawei and ZTE takes effect immediately.
This is a more encompassing restriction that the US has placed on Huawei since it blacklisted it in May 2019. Meanwhile, Huawei has also always denied having ties to the Chinese government. It instead claims that the US is trying to impede the globalisation of its 5G technology.
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