A funding package known as the Secure & Trusted Communications Networks Act’s Reimbursement Program is nearly $3 billion short – and last week, dozens of U.S. senators wrote to Congressional leaders pushing to close that funding gap for the sake of the nation’s wireless networks.
“The highest priority class of telecommunications providers in the Reimbursement Program serve the most rural areas of the United States where wireless connectivity is a vital lifeline to accessing telehealth services, receiving emergency notifications, and participating in the 21st-century economy,” wrote the senators in a Sept. 8 letter that was led by U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO).
The program offers assistance to small telecommunications providers to remove and replace equipment manufactured by Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the purchase of equipment produced by those companies in 2020, and simultaneously prohibited the use of funds provided by it for the expansion or maintenance of networks with said equipment already installed. The rising worry is that without closing the funding shortfall, the FCC would not be able to fully cover the costs of removing, disposing and replacing suspect network equipment.
“The funding shortfall must be addressed as soon as possible to ensure eligible small and rural carriers are adequately reimbursed for costs associated with removing, destroying and replacing affected equipment,” Steven Berry, president and CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), said. “These carriers serve some of the most rural and hard-to-reach places across the country and, without adequate reimbursements, their ability to provide ongoing service to customers is seriously jeopardized.”
In turn, the senators fear that failure to cover costs will leave U.S. wireless networks potentially vulnerable to espionage and disruption. While $1.9 billion had been utilized through the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2020 to help the FCC replace such high-risk network equipment, supply chain disruptions and additional program requirements added to the burden of costs and expanded it beyond initial expectations.
A total of 34 senators, from both sides of the political aisle, signed the letter to Senate leadership.