BREAKING: FCC moves forward with ban on Huawei and ZTE technology in US

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially moved forward with blacklisting Huawei and ZTE, labeling them as "national security threats."

The move will ensure that US companies no longer have the ability to purchase equipment from the Chinese-government owned Huawei.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks called Huawei's equipment "untrustworthy," saying that the United States and Congress needed to allocate funding for replacements.

"The Commission has taken important steps toward identifying the problematic equipment in our systems, but there is much more to do,” said Starks. “Funding is the missing piece. Congress recognized in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act that many carriers will need support to transition away from untrustworthy equipment, but it still has not appropriated funding for replacements.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the decision came from "overwhelming evidence" that showed Huawei and ZTE were national security risks. "With today’s Orders, and based on the overwhelming weight of evidence, the Bureau has designated Huawei and ZTE as national security risks to America’s communications networks — and to our 5G future,” Pai said in a statement Tuesday. “Both companies have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus, and both companies are broadly subject to Chinese law obligating them to cooperate with the country’s intelligence services.”

The move to bar Huawei does not come as a surprise. In May 2019, Trump signed an executive order which was designed to keep US telecommunications companies from purchasing and using equipment that poses a threat to national security.