Cable broadband firm Mediacom Communications Corporation (MCC) told the FCC it’s on-track to complete the removal of banned Chinese equipment from its network this month. “To date, 100 percent of the program has been completed across the areas of removal and replacement, and 99 percent of equipment has received disposal certification,” Mediacom said in a Commission filing, notes DatacenterDynamics.
“MCC has planned and scheduled its final shipment of covered equipment for pick-up and disposal on July 8, 2024. MCC is certain it will be fully completed with all removal, replacement, and disposal tasks before its program deadline of July 15, 2024.”
However, the company says the federal government’s Rip & Replace program has been far from simple. It did acknowledge the process “has recently shown some improvement.” Mediacom said that one of its biggest issues had been trying to source gear to replace the banned Huawei and ZTE gear in its network, notes DatacenterDynamics.
“MCC did experience equipment delivery delays that significantly impacted the original MCC timeline for completion of removal, replacement, and disposal of its installed Huawei-covered equipment. Obviously, equipment could not be removed, services activated, subscribers migrated, and covered equipment disposed of until the replacement equipment was available. MCC worked closely with its OEMs, installation, engineering, and professional services vendors to mitigate any issues,” it added in its filing.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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