Viaero Warns It's Running Out of Money to Replace Huawei Gear
Viaero Wireless told the FCC on Tuesday that absent further funding from Congress it will suspend a program for removing Huawei gear from its network. Viaero said it installed Huawei radio access network gear at nearly 900 cellsites “over the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
course of many years.” It must replace “all this RAN equipment, as well as other Huawei gear used for backhaul (microwave) and core switching.” Viaero is “exhausting its own financial resources to fund parts of the project, including payments to third-party vendors, well in advance of receiving reimbursement from the FCC,” a filing in docket 18-89 said. Based on recent assessments of the scope of work ahead and the company’s financial resources, “by the end of 2024, Viaero will be required to suspend work on this project if additional funding from Congress is not provided,” the filing said. Congress is considering, but has not yet approved, legislation providing an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2408090041).