Huawei, ZTE: United States officially prohibits Chinese telecoms equipment

The Federal Commission for Communications prohibited, Friday, the sale of any new product on American soil with several Chinese firms.

MO12345lemonde with AFP

Half a dozen Chinese Télécoms Bannies from the United States. Suspected of weighing a threat to national security, the equipment manufacturers and providers of services targeted, Friday, November 25, by a decree of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are prohibited for the sale of any new product on American soil.

No marketing authorization will now be issued to the firms concerned, among which Huawei and Zte, already submitted in the past to equivalent rules, as well as Dahua and Hikvision, which provide video surveillance equipment, and Hytera, specialized in radio equipment. The products already authorized by the American telecoms regulator will however continue to be.

“These new rules represent an important part of the actions put in place to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecom equipment,” said FCC president Jessica Rosenworcel, cited in a press release . The regulator also reflects to re -study authorizations already granted as well as procedures for revising the prohibitions announced.

In line with that of his predecessor, the administration of Joe Biden adopted a firm line towards Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers, suspected of espionage for the benefit of Beijing.

” Unacceptable risk “for safety

In May 2020, the administration of Donald Trump had imposed on the subcontractors of Huawei to request an authorization to use American components, in fact blocking the supply to the equipment supplier of products manufactured by companies established in the States- United. The decision had penalized the activity of the group, especially in the smartphones sector where Huawei has almost disappeared from the market.

The FCC then ranked, in March 2021, Huawei, Zte, Hytera, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology on a black list of companies weighing “an unacceptable risk” for the national security of the United States. The same year, in June, the agency said it was favorable to a project to ban the authorizations granted to Chinese companies of telecommunications equipment.

“Although she identified security problems with Huawei and Zte telecommunications equipment in 2019, this agency has continued in recent years to grant its approval to this equipment, said M me ROSENWORcel. In other words, we have left opportunities open for their use in the United States thanks to our equipment authorization process. We now propose to close this door. “

This prohibition desire had aroused concerns among small telecom operators who are the only ones to use Huawei and ZTE equipment in their network. In September 2020, the FCC estimated that replacing this equipment would cost them more than $ 1.8 billion.

/Media reports cited above.