FCC Counters Huawei Arguments in Final Version of Secure Network Ruling
The final version of the FCC’s secure network ruling, approved 5-0 Thursday (see 2007160051), is largely the same as the draft but addresses in more detail Huawei objections. In another change reflected in the final order, after the draft was…
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circulated, the FCC barred Huawei and ZTE from participating in the USF (see 2006300078). “Huawei contends that the 2019 Supply Chain Order ‘cannot fulfill any obligation imposed by the Secure Networks Act’ because the FCC lacked authority to adopt it and the Order was otherwise arbitrary and capricious and violated the Administrative Procedure Act and Constitutional due process protections,” said a new footnote: “As the Commission has explained, the FCC was created in part to protect the national defense, and the 2019 Supply Chain Order is consistent with that objective and a reasonable exercise of the Commission’s authority under section 254 of the Communications Act to ensure ‘quality service’ and protect the ‘public interest’ by safeguarding the integrity of the telecommunications supply chain and communications networks.” The order now noted that “nothing in the Secure Networks Act restricts the Commission from using its other available statutory authority to prohibit the use of USF funds for a wider range of equipment or services than is required by section 3(a)” of the act.