Rosenworcel Prods Congress on Rip and Replace Funding, Citing Potential Reimbursement Prorating July 15

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is again prodding Congress to allocate an additional $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, writing Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Wednesday that the commission “will need to plan to proceed” with prorating reimbursements to providers if lawmakers don’t bridge the current shortfall by July 15. Rosenworcel’s renewed push comes as congressional leaders are still negotiating a spectrum legislative package that could direct some auction proceeds to increase rip and replace funding.

The FCC has some statutory tools to ease the effect of prorating reimbursements, including the ability to grant “a six-month extension” of a law requirement that funding recipients complete removal and replacement within one year of receiving initial money “if the agency determines that the supply of needed equipment and services is inadequate to accomplish” the program’s goals, Rosenworcel said in a letter to Cantwell we obtained Thursday morning ahead of its expected publication. The commission “also has authority” to “grant individual extensions to qualified recipients that fail to meet” the rip and replace deadline “due to no fault of such recipient.”

“Many” participants report they will face difficulties completing the removal and replacement of “vulnerable equipment in their networks as a result of the lack of sufficient funding,” Rosenworcel said. “Some recipients may not begin actually removing this equipment until additional funding is appropriated.” The FCC has already “approved distributions of reimbursement funds” for 38 of the 52 participants that submitted claims as of April 24, she said: Those 38 entities now face deadlines to remove all Huawei and ZTE communications equipment and services ranging from Sept. 29, 2023 to April 21, 2024. All 126 approved applicants must submit at least one claim by July 15.

Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan praised Rosenworcel’s letter Thursday ahead of its publication. It highlights “the urgency and difficulties faced by Program participants,” he said: “Many CCA members participating in the Program are the only providers in the rural areas they serve, and cannot successfully ‘rip and replace’ untrusted equipment and continue to provide service for their subscribers, as well as roaming customers from other carriers, with less than 40% of their approved costs funded. Congress created the program as a national security mandate, and Congress can ensure its success by acting to fully fund” it.