The struggle to replace Chinese tech in telecom

You may not remember, but I covered the directive to remove Chinese telecom equipment from carriers during the Trump administration.     And it’s not going smoothly – as reported in Politico, Small communications networks, mainly in rural areas, are saddled with old Chinese equipment they can’t afford to remove and which they can’t repair if it breaks. The companies say they want to ditch the Chinese tech, but promised funds from Congress aren’t coming quickly enough and aren’t sufficient to cover the cost.

This represents nearly 200 US Carriers, including rural wireless networks and broadband internet and TV providers, a handful of universities, school districts, and even city governments.   The Federal Communications Commission revealed last week that it’d cost $3.08 billion more than the $1.9 billion allocated initially to pay U.S. companies to ditch Huawei and ZTE.   Congress is now on the hook to come up with the additional funds to extract and replace those parts, which comprise the guts and sometimes the brains of these networks.

There’s a desire to believe that all the internet infrastructure is entirely comprised of big companies.    It’s not true – smaller providers are a critical piece of this, and we should consider these like roads and bridges and ensure they’re all invested in.