Huawei is trying to overturn the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ban, and is going to court in order to do it. The company has submitted an appeal in order to overturn the FCC’s designation of Huawei as a national security threat.
Huawei going to court to overturn FCC ban, as it believes the agency overstepped its authority
The company believes that the FCC overstepped its authority last year, when it designated the company as a security threat. The ban was supported by former President Donald Trump.
The leadership has changed in the US since then, as President Biden is now in office. Huawei’s CEO stated recently that it would like to talk to President Biden, to improve relations between Huawei and the US.
With designating Huawei as a national threat, the FCC basically locked out the US’ network operators from buying Huawei components. The FCC will continue to defend its decision, a spokesperson said to The Verge.
Huawei has always denied the spying allegations, though the FCC thought otherwise. The FCC said, last year, that it has evidence of its claims, and evidence from “numerous US national security agencies”.
The FCC also ordered the replacement of Huawei equipment late last year
To be clear, the FCC locked out networking companies from buying Huawei equipment back in June last year. Huawei challenged that decision without success. The FCC took another step in December, that’s the one we mentioned earlier. That move forced companies to replace existing Huawei equipment.
That being said, the Trump administration was in a trade war with China, and Huawei was caught in the crossfire, or at least that’s what many people believe happened. It happened to both TikTok and WeChat, to a degree.
President Biden did not make a move against TikTok since then, but his administration did indicate that the case against Huawei will continue. Gina Raimondo, Biden’s nominee for Commerce Department secretary, said last week she sees “no reason” to remove Huawei from the department’s banned Entity List.
Let’s see if the court will agree with the FCC, or will things change in Huawei’s favor. It will also be interesting to see whether President Biden plans to take that call from Huawei’s CEO.