Urge to replace Chinese IT equipment will be expensive for U.S.: Analyst

The U.S. authorities are on a mission to “rip and replace” the Chinese IT equipment from the foreign market. But as per some analysts, this process could be expensive for the U.S. and demand tens of billions of dollars in executing such activities.

In recent times, numerous headlines depicted that foreign firms are replacing Chinese technologies from the core in favor of bans and trade restrictions.

One such example is the BT Group which has been working hastily on the removal of Huawei equipment from its core network. However, tech analysts are examining this aspect from all sides and believe that it may cost the U.S. a major amount.

On Thursday, the senior research analyst at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology of Georgetown University – Jack Corrigan attended an interview in Washington. Among several topics, the analyst shared his views on the U.S.-China tensions.

Jack cited that there aren’t many alternatives to Chinese IT systems at affordable prices. Even if the U.S. focuses on avoiding national security threats, the complete abolishment of Chinese IT equipment from the region could cost unlimited dollars to the authorities.

“Eliminating all designated Chinese technology and services from every US network would be prohibitively expensive, if not impossible.”

In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission began the ‘rip and replace’ program in the U.S. asking the local telecom providers to remove Chinese IT equipment. It further offered a compensation of $1.9 billion. Although, the overall cost was far more and dealt with a $3.1 billion lack.

U.S.-China War Continues…

U.S. regulators have always seen the Chinese firm as a harmful threat to their security and privacy. Despite many China-based companies claiming that their products and services are safe, the American authorities continued to increase restrictions.

Eventually, Washington has wiped out telecom facilities from Huawei and ZTE, accusing them of using suspicious techs that can transfer U.S. data to China. Though this process has only increased the burden on telecom providers to begin everything from scratch.

Concluding the topic, Jack said that if the U.S. authorities continue to extend this program beyond Huawei and ZTE, then it will only result in the growth of the funding gap. Perhaps, it is important to impose such bans only at the sites, networks, or techs that violate national security laws.

(Source)