The U.S. government’s years-long quest to remove all Chinese vendor equipment from the nation’s wireless networks has ballooned to a cost of $5.6 billion.

The carrot-and-stick approach implemented by U.S. regulators, which requires all operators to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks, failed to adequately measure the true cost of the rip-and-replace program. 

Taxpayers were initially on the hook for $700 million in 2019, then $1.9 billion in late 2020, and now at least $5.6 billion. That’s a 700% increase in less than two years, and it’s unclear the extent to which the total cost could grow further.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel last week notified Congress that carriers impacted by the requirement have thus far requested the new total from the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act that became law in the early weeks of the COVID-19 crisis. 

The U.S. government, through multiple administrations, has been running a years-long and multi-pronged campaign to rip out and replace network communications equipment supplied by Chinese vendors, but funding for that effort was absent prior to the passage of the bill.

“We’ve received over 181 applications from carriers who have developed plans to remove and replace equipment in their networks that pose a national security threat,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. 

Rural and regional U.S. carriers are especially impacted by the mandate and were collectively relieved when funding was secured to adequately reimburse them for the removal and replacement of equipment and software from vendors designated as national security risks. 

The filing window for the Supply Chain Reimbursement Program created by Congress to remove, replace, and dispose of network equipment and services produced or provided by Huawei and ZTE opened on Oct. 29, 2021, and closed on Jan. 28, 2022. 

“While we have more work to do to review these applications, I look forward to working with Congress to ensure that there is enough funding available for this program to advance Congress’ security goals and ensure that the U.S. will continue to lead the way on 5G security,” Rosenworcel said.