Not so fast: Wireless industry urges FCC to move carefully in restricting access to Chinese equipment

The Federal Communications Commission wants to prohibit US companies from using its Universal Service Fund (USF) to buy equipment that could pose "a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain." That's broadly understood to mean network infrastructure made by China's Huawei and ZTE, two companies that the largest American carriers stopped working with in the US almost six years ago due to pressure from Congress. Nonetheless, US carriers are pushing back against the FCC's latest proposal. AT&T says that if the government wants to prevent telecommunication companies from buying Chinese equipment, it should place the same restrictions on cable companies and other internet service providers. "With providers’ choices of equipment and services strongly impacting both cost and innovation, restricting the equipment and service choices of some market participants but not others, as would result from limiting such measures to USF recipients, would potentially distort competition and harm consumers," AT&T wrote. Industry trade group CTIA also submitted commments, arguing that the US wireless industry already prioritizes security and designs networks to be safe and reliable.