WASHINGTON—The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 on Nov. 22 to designate China’s Huawei and ZTE as national security risks, barring their U.S. rural carrier customers from tapping an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase equipment.
The U.S. telecommunications regulator also voted to propose requiring those carriers to remove and replace equipment from Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp from existing networks. The move could eliminate a key source of funding for Huawei’s biggest U.S. business—telecoms equipment.
