Outgoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has urged the agency to act quickly to push ahead with spectrum auctions to speed up the planned rip-and-replace of Chinese telecoms equipment in the US.

In a statement, Rosenworcel, who is due to leave the FCC later this month, has called on the commission to "quickly adopt rules" that will allow it "to proceed with a spectrum auction to fully fund the removal, replacement, and disposal of insecure Chinese-made Huawei and ZTE equipment and services from US networks without further delay."

Her comments come after the US Senate voted in favor of a bill last month that looks set to provide an additional $3 billion to telecom companies in funding for the rip and replace program.

Funding for the program was included as part of the $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was passed by the US Senate on December 18.

Initially, the FCC agreed to provide up to $1.9bn for communications providers that have 10 million or fewer subscribers. However, funding applications hit $4.98bn, creating a $3.08bn shortfall.

The recent disclosure of the Salt Typhoon cyberattack campaign, which has seen Chinese hackers attempt to break into US telecoms networks and steal information from calls, has focused minds at the FCC, Rosenworcel said.

“With ‘Salt Typhoon’ and other recent incidents, we are all acutely aware of the risk posed by Chinese hackers and intelligence services to our privacy, economy, and security,” said Rosenworcel.

“Today’s proposal is a critical step toward finally filling the shortfall in the Rip and Replace program. I am confident that the FCC’s world-leading and award-winning auction team will meet this important moment.”

To raise the $3bn shortfall in funding, the Commission has been given authority to auction off spectrum, something it has been unable to do since March 2023, when its general auction authority lapsed.

The FCC confirmed it will auction off AWS-3 spectrum licenses in order to raise additional funding for the program.

"In 2014, the Commission previously assigned the majority of AWS-3 licenses in Auction 97. Nevertheless, there remains spectrum in these bands that is not currently licensed due to various circumstances. Pursuant to the Congressional mandate, the Commission will now offer licenses for the unassigned AWS-3 spectrum in a new auction," said the FCC.

Since July 2022, the FCC has received more than 20,000 reimbursement claims across 122 of the 126 applications that have been approved for funding.

It was revealed in January that only five companies have completed the removal of banned Chinese telecom equipment.

Current FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will serve as the next chair of the FCC after being picked by President-elect Donald Trump, who will re-enter the White House later this month.