FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today said will take action (pdf)to ensure the U.S. telecommunications supply chain is protected from potential threats.
Pai made the comments in a response to members of Congress who expressed concern about AT&T and Verizon’s plans to sell Huawei handsets in the U.S.
On December 20, 2017, Senators Tom Cotton, Angus King, John Coryn, Susan Collins, Roy Blunt, Jim Risch, Richard Burr, Marco Rubio, and James Lankford, and Representatives Frank LoBiondo, Brad Wenstrup, Elise Stefanik, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Michael Conaway, Michael Turner, Chris Stewart, Rick Crawford, and Peter King all signed a letter imploring Pai to examine the relationship between Huawei, AT&T, and Verizon.
The main matter of concern in the letter from Congressional members to the FCC was that government employees might eventually buy and use Huawei devices from U.S. carriers. Some members of the U.S. government have long claimed that Huawei equipment could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans.
Pressure on AT&T and Verizon put that matter to rest. Shortly after these members of Congress sent the letter to the FCC, AT&T and Verizon Wireless dropped plans to sell Huawei handsets.
Earlier this week, Huawei’s retail partner Best Buy said it will cease selling Huawei devices in the U.S. Telecom companies in the U.S. are not allowed to buy networking equipment form Huawei.
Even so, Pai alluded to taking more action. In his response he said,
“I intend to take proactive steps to help ensure the integrity of the communications supply chain in the United States in the near future.”
Pai did not specify what those steps might be, though Huawei and ZTE continue to be targets of government scrutiny..
