In response to telecom operators’ request earlier this yearUp to $56 billion in subsidies, in order to help replace Chinese telecommunications equipment such as Huawei and ZTE. The Chairperson of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Jessica Rosenworcel, said that after relevant reviews, it was determined that an additional US$30 billion would be needed to achieve this goal, and the US Congress has been informed of the funding application needs.
Combined with the approximately $19 billion in funds previously allocated by the Federal Communications Commission, the additional $30 billion requested this time and related costs, it is estimated that subsidizing telecom operators to replace the Huawei and ZTE equipment currently in use will require around $49.8 billion in funds. This is not a big difference from the $56 billion subsidy request previously proposed by telecom operators.
Before this, many telecom operators said that it would cost more to replace the network communication equipment provided by Huawei and ZTE. The reason is that small local telecom operators mostly purchase relatively low-priced network communication equipment from Huawei and ZTE. If they want to replace it with network communication equipment of other brands, they must spend more money.
The Federal Communications Commission originally planned to provide $16 billion in subsidies, but later increased the estimated funding to $18 billion and allocated over $19 billion to help telecom operators replace network equipment. However, actual estimates indicate that the cost of replacing equipment is far higher than initially anticipated.
According to Jessica Rosenworcel, some of the subsidies will be available for reimbursement in the next few days.
