INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The American government is proposing legislation that would provide rural mobile operators with access to up to $1 billion in public funding
to replace infrastructure made by firms such as Huawei across their networks.Chinese vendors have largely been excluded from the US market,
with major carriers opting to use radio equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and others
However a number of smaller providers use kit from Huawei and ZTE because it is relatively expensive.The Rural Wireless Association, which
represents operators with fewer than 100,000 customers, estimates a quarter of its members have Chinese-made kit in their networks and
estimates it could cost up to $1 billion to replace it.However earlier this year, these companies were effectively blacklisted by the US,
preventing them from doing business with US suppliers
A temporary reprieve is in place to allow Huawei and ZTE to support their US customers, but it appears as though the government is pursuing
a different course of action.The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which comprises both Republicans and Democrats, has put forward a bill
that would require the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to offer financial support to replace equipment.“There is authorized to
be appropriated to the Commission $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 to carry out the Program,” the bill reads
“Such amount is authorized to remain available through fiscal year 2029.”Huawei has frequently denied any allegations that its products
are a security risk, while the US government has produced no evidence of any wrongdoing
Nonetheless, Washington is now urging allies to follow its lead and ban Huawei from their 5G deployments.European operators have frequently
voiced their opposition to any ban, arguing that excluding Huawei would result in decreased innovation and higher prices.A GSMA report
suggested the cost of replacing Chinese-made gear would be as high as €55 billion (£48.6bn), while the rollout of 5G could be delayed by
up to 18 months.However a report from Stand Consult said examples from the USA and Australia showed that not using ZTE or Huawei had not
increased prices or delayed rollout.The report said that because European operators need to replace significant amounts of aging or
non-upgradable radio kit regardless of the Huawei ban, the cost would be much less
Strand estimates the cost of replacing Huawei or ZTE kit that could be upgraded to 5G is around $3.5 billion.
