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Banning Chinese Telecom vendors Huawei and ZTE creates fear, uncertainty and doubt as well as new supply chain security ideas among small telcos.
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Democratic Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosted a workshop on June 27 entitled “Find IT, Fix It, Fund It” to hear from “interested parties on how to address the national security threats posed by insecure equipment within our communications networks.” Although not explicitly stated in the Commission’s public notice or its press release, the issue addressed in the workshop is whether and how to remove from the nation’s communications networks technology from Chinese suppliers given the recent executive order banning American companies from using any telecommunications equipment deemed to be a security risk.

That order was squarely aimed at China’s top telecom tech providers Huawei and ZTE as well as any other Chinese tech vendor whose products appear in the nation’s communications networks. The half-day workshop featured a range of speakers including academics, small telecom providers, rival telecom tech providers and small telecom trade association representatives. Almost all spoke about the uncertainty and fear the ban has created and the stark financial and opportunity costs it will impose.

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