‘Rip and Replace’ funding bills introduced in House and Senate, without NG911 language

Senate legislation designed to address the funding shortfall in an FCC program designed to rid U.S. carrier networks of China-made equipment recently received a companion bill in the House, but both proposals fail to mention any funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments.

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) introduced the House version of the bill (H.R. 9340), which calls for the U.S. Treasury to provide $3.08 billion for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, which is commonly referenced as the “Rip and Replace” program.

“There are over 6,000 sites across the United States in need of this funding, 341 of which are in Texas alone,” Pfluger said in a prepared statement. “The Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act is vital to our national security and to ensure rural communities do not lose access to basic connectivity.

“If left unfunded, Chinese equipment such as Huawei and ZTE will remain in our networks, including near areas of strategic importance, such as military bases and airports. Rural and remote areas would be hit the hardest, as networks could shut down and eliminate the only mobile broadband service provider for entire communities.”

In a press release about the matter, Pfluger’s proposal was described as companion legislation to S. 4049, which was introduced earlier this year by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

“Time is of the essence for Montanans who could lose 911 and cell service, and it is critical to our national security that we replace Chinese telecommunications equipment for our small and rural network providers,” Daines said in a prepared statement. “We must get this done before it’s too late.”

In addition to the perceived national-security urgency, both bills could face political and logistical challenges to gaining approval. The Daines bill was introduced in March, but the Senate Commerce Committee has not taken any action on the matter to date. Any bills not approved by Congress this year would have to be reintroduced after the new Congress first convenes in January.

Congress allocated $1.9 billion to fund the “Rip and Replace” program in 2020, but carriers subsequently informed the FCC that the amount of money needed to do the work was $4.98 billion. The bills proposed by Pfluger and Daines call for the U.S. Treasury to immediately fund the $3.08 billion shortfall, and the U.S. Treasury would be repaid when the FCC auctions returned AWS-3 licenses that some estimates value at $3.3 billion, according to Beltway sources.

Of course, Congress allowed the FCC’s authority to conduct spectrum auction to expire last year. With this in mind, both proposals from Pfluger and Daines include language that specifically lets the FCC conduct this reauction of AWS-3 spectrum licenses, even if the FCC’s general spectrum-auction authority has not been reinstated.

Todd Schlekeway, president and CEO of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, applauded Pfluger’s introduction of H.R. 9340.

“This is a critical proposal to fully fund the Rip and Replace Program, removing Chinese components from our nation’s wireless communications systems. It is imperative to take this step to ensure the security of our broadband infrastructure,” Schlekeway said in a prepared statement. “This important legislation would mitigate the real threat to our national security posed by insecure networks and devices. Congress must move forward to fully leverage the rip-and-replace program to protect Internet users.

“This companion legislation builds off S. 4049, the Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act originally introduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) in the U.S. Senate. NATE looks forward to both the House and Senate moving ahead to address this issue and urges swift passage since the Association’s member contractor companies will be on the front lines conducting this rip-and-replace deployment work,”

During the last Congress, legislation that included rip-and-replace funding, FCC auction authority and significant funding for 911 centers nationwide to make the transition to IP-based NG911 technology—in excess of $10 billion—received enough bipartisan support to almost be approved, according to Beltway sources. If the rip-and-replace funding is approved separately, some have questioned whether that could impact the ability to secure enough lawmaker support for NG911 funding in the future.

Hopes for NG911 federal funding were buoyed early in 2022, when FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed that proceeds from a future FCC spectrum auction be used to fund the transition to NG911 technology. This idea proved to be the foundation of last year’s legislation that passed the House, with the bill including language that would use proceeds from a 3.1-3.45 GHz auction to pay for both the “rip and replace” program and NG911 funding.

Of course, that language was not included in the massive omnibus funding bill that Congress passed in December 2022. Just a few months later, Congress allowed the FCC’s spectrum-auction authority to lapse.