By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to advance a wireless spectrum auction to provide nearly $3.1 billion for U.S. telecom companies to remove equipment made by Chinese telecoms firms Huawei and ZTE from American wireless networks because of security concerns.
Congress approved the funding and authorized a one-time spectrum auction by the FCC for advanced 5G-grade wireless spectrum in the band known as AWS-3 to help meet rising spectrum demands of wireless consumers. "Failing to close that funding gap would have left America's networks needlessly exposed to security risks," FCC Chair Brendan Carr said.
In 2014, the FCC auctioned AWS-3 spectrum licenses for commercial use, but some winning bidders defaulted on their payment obligations and about 200 licenses were returned to the FCC's inventory.
The agency must auction the licenses by June 2026.
It previously estimated removing the Chinese equipment would cost $4.98 billion, but Congress had only approved $1.9 billion for the "rip-and-replace" program until it approved the auction.
Washington has aggressively urged U.S. allies to purge Huawei and other Chinese gear from their wireless networks.
Then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel last year said a lack of funding could result in the shutdown of some rural networks, which "could eliminate the only provider in some regions" and threaten 911 service.
In 2019, Congress told the FCC to require U.S. telecoms carriers that receive federal subsidies to purge their networks of Chinese telecoms equipment.
Separately, the FCC voted to explore potentially auctioning additional mid-band spectrum in the Upper C-band and seek comments on whether and how it should auction additional spectrum.
A fight over the previous C-band auction led to a confrontation between U.S. airlines and wireless companies in early 2022. Last week, telecom and airline officials met to discuss the FCC proceeding and are working to reach an agreement on any additional spectrum auction and ensuring airplane altimeters are not impacted.
The FCC last auctioned spectrum in 2022. In 2023 it lost the broad authority from Congress for wireless sales.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Paul Simao)