Get Your Petition Ready
The FCC announced that it will begin accepting petitions for the “Secure & Trusted Communications Network Reimbursement Program” that is designed to reimburse “Advance Communications Service Providers” who have been using Huawei (pvt), ZTE (000063.CH), Hytera (002583.CH), Hikvision (002415.CH) or Dahua (002236.CH) equipment that was purchased on or before June 30, 2020. The later names include security cameras. This part of the program is for those carriers that have 10 million or fewer customers. The filing window opens on October 29 and closes on January 14, 2022 with the FCC releasing a public notice on those applications that have been accepted before March 31, 2022, although that date can be extended for an additional 45 days. In 2Q 2022 the FCC will issue funding allocations and will begin accepting invoices for actual cost claims later in 2Q ’22.
The program requires considerable verification of the equipment to be replaced and all removal work must be done by 3rd party providers so verification can be made, but the FCC will only consider replacement costs to be reasonable if they compare to what the provider incurred to install the original equipment., although the substitution of new 5G equipment for replaced 4G equipment is considered valid. The FCC provides a cost estimate ‘guide’, although individual applicants can document expected costs more specifically if they vary from the guidelines, however the total funding allocation for the program is capped at $1.9b currently.
The program requires considerable verification of the equipment to be replaced and all removal work must be done by 3rd party providers so verification can be made, but the FCC will only consider replacement costs to be reasonable if they compare to what the provider incurred to install the original equipment., although the substitution of new 5G equipment for replaced 4G equipment is considered valid. The FCC provides a cost estimate ‘guide’, although individual applicants can document expected costs more specifically if they vary from the guidelines, however the total funding allocation for the program is capped at $1.9b currently.
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