SI Wireless, a provider in Tennessee and Kentucky, for the second time has provided Telecompetitor with access to the update it filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) related to its participation in the Secure and Trusted Communications Reimbursement (SCRP) Program.
The “Rip and Replace” program is a $1.9 billion initiative aimed at dispersing funds to providers with ten million or fewer customers for the expense in the removal, replacement and disposal of equipment from two Chinese vendors — Huawei and ZTE — that have been assessed to be security risks.
The most recent FCC Form 5640 status update from SI Wireless was no less critical than the first, which Telecompetitor reported upon last July.
The recent filing begins by reviewing how much SI Wireless has been reimbursed, how much it feels it still is owed, and how much has not yet been approved for invoicing. It implies that the slowness of its approval is payback for an article SI Wireless participated in for the Washington Post, which was negative towards the FCC:
“After the Washington Post discussed SI Wireless’ experience in May 2024, almost 2 and a half years into this ‘one’ year program, the firm was no longer just being starved of reimbursements, it appears to have become a target. In July 2024, SI Wireless received a Notice of Hold on our funding in this program.
“The Notice of Hold referenced the Washington Post article and mentioned there are questions pertaining to whether ‘SI Wireless is in fact a provider of advanced communications service to customers and therefore eligible to participate in the SCRP’; two years after it was told it was eligible.
“Now on top of potentially being put out of business due to lack of reimbursements that have been frozen for over 9 months and it has amassed over a hundred thousand dollars in legal defense fees answering over 2400 questions and counting.”
The filing with the FCC implies that SI Wireless’ future has been compromised by the program:
“Though SI Wireless has new equipment installed on more than 90 towers, less than 15% of those towers are currently online because each site requires technical backhaul setup, optimization, and extensive testing before it can serve customers.
“However, due to nonpayment from this program and the need to allocate remaining funds and borrowings to cover legal costs associated with the actions outlined herein, SI Wireless cannot afford the manpower needed to complete these sites. This is causing significant delays in restoring service to the rural communities we serve.”
The document for the FCC continued, “The SI Wireless for years has been sharing how the mismanagement of this program is driving up costs and creating waste. This program was created to help providers like us rip out and replace equipment that has been deemed a national security threat. We willingly complied and in return it ironically turns out that the biggest threat to SI Wireless is this program.”
