On March 25, 2022, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a Public Notice announcing that certain communications equipment and/or services from AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas) Corp, and China Mobile International USA have been deemed an unacceptable threat to national security and added to the Covered List. The inclusion of the equipment and services on the Covered List extends to subsidiaries and affiliates of these entities.
The full Covered List may be found at https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain/coveredlist.
The Secure Networks Act established a process to prohibit the use of federal subsidies to purchase equipment or services deemed to pose national security risks, as well as a reimbursement program that provided for the replacement of communications equipment or services that posed such risks. Recipients of reimbursement funds under the Reimbursement Program and Eligible Telecommunications Carriers that receive Universal Service Fund support must remove and replace equipment and services included on the Covered List within 60 days of being placed on the Covered List. In addition, the FCC has also launched a rulemaking that proposes to modify its equipment authorization rules to prohibit the authorization and marketing of any equipment listed on the Covered List, and that explores the FCC’s authority to revoke authorizations that previously have been granted for equipment on the Covered List. This rulemaking is pending.
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