Security News > 2021 > November > There's no Huawei back now: Biden signs law that forbids US buyers acquiring kit on naughty list

US President Joe Biden has signed The Secure Equipment Act yesterday, legislation that prevents US regulators from even considering the issuance of new telecom equipment licenses for companies deemed security threats - which means the likes of China's Huawei and ZTE. In October, the legislation was unanimously approved by the US Senate, while the House of Representatives passed it on a 420-4 vote.

ZTE Corp and other Chinese tech companies, the bill itself specifies that this includes equipment that is listed in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019.

The Secure Networks Act became law in March 2020 following concerns that 5G networks powered by Chinese kit could include backdoors inserted at Beijing's behest.

Skeptics pointed out that the law also gives American vendors a leg up by removing Huawei as a competitor.

The FCC has offered reimbursements to small and medium sized companies who want to rip out and replace Huawei and ZTE networking equipment.

According to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, his organization has approved over 3,000 applications from Huawei since 2018 - some after the 2019 executive order barring the company from many US operations.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/11/12/biden_signs_the_secure_equipment/