A US House panel unveiled bipartisan legislation this week that would authorize $1 billion for small and rural wireless providers to replace network equipment from companies including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp. that lawmakers say pose a national security risk, said Reuters.
The legislation is similar to a bill approved in July by the US Senate Commerce Committee that would authorize about $700 million in grants to remove Huawei equipment, in a bid to boost the security of the US telecommunication network’s supply chain.
The top Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said in a joint statement the bill would protect the “nation’s communications networks from foreign adversaries by helping small and rural wireless providers root-out suspect network equipment and replace it with more secure equipment.”
The panel will hold a hearing on the bill Friday. About a dozen rural US telecom carriers that depend on Huawei for network gear were in discussions with its biggest rivals, Ericsson and Nokia, to replace their Chinese equipment.
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