Telecoms Must Report Untrusted Gear by May 5

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters recently the agency would soon develop a method for telecoms to tell the agency if they have untrusted gear in their networks, and now that’s happened. The Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics established an online portal for providers to submit such reports. Those are due by May 5. Also on Friday, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told Congress the agency has received 181 applications from carriers seeking reimbursement for removing untrusted gear from their networks, to the tune of about $5.6 billion. The application window for the “Rip & Replace” reimbursement program opened on October 29, 2021, and closed on January 28 of this year.  The Commission was directed by Congress in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 to require telecoms to report annually whether they bought, rented, or leased any gear on the list of covered communications and services on or after August 14, 2018, or, within 60 days after the agency places such gear on its list of untrusted telecom equipment or services. Continue Reading