FCC Grants Four More Rip and Replace Extensions
The agency gave 26 participants more time last month.
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2026 – Federal regulators are giving four providers more time to rip insecure gear out of their networks.
The Federal Communications Commission granted their requests in a public notice Wednesday. About a month ago, the agency granted 26 similar deadline extensions.
The four rural carriers given more time Wednesday — Bristol Bay, Eltopia Communications, Mark Twain Communications, and Rise Internet — are no longer bound by a passed May 8 deadline to swap out equipment from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE.
The FCC’S Rip and Replace program was stood up in 2022 after lawmakers deemed the targeted companies national security threats. It faced a $3 billion funding shortfall, which led to reduced payments to participants and repeated delays until Congress provided the necessary cash in late 2024.
Now, the FCC has been telling extension recipients that it doesn’t anticipate granting repeated waivers. Like the May extensions, the ones announced Wednesday ranged from three to six months.
The funding shortfall “issue has been resolved for over a year,” the order noted. “Recipients have similarly now had significant time to overcome delays associated with other previous justifications for additional time.”
Thus, the agency continued, “we expect that these recipients will be able to complete their [removal, replacement, and disposal] work within their terms, as extended by this Public Notice, with no further extensions.”
Bristol Bay, an Alaska wireless carrier, said severe weather in the state had rendered some of its sites impossible to reach over the winter and spring. Mark Twain and Rise cited supply chain issues, plus a migratory bird nest on a tower in Rise’s case.
Eltopia said delayed FCC reimbursement was preventing a shipment of Ericsson gear.
The companies will have to submit more detailed status updates so the FCC can “closely track whether each recipient receiving an extension is making satisfactory progress.” Those are due June 29 for all program participants.
Among the 26 previously granted extensions, supply chain issues were the most common cause of delays. Companies also pointed to permitting and severe weather issues.
As of the FCC’s most recent update to Congress in December, 13 of the program’s 126 participants had started the closeout process.
In response to an agency request for comment on multiple companies’ questions, Summit Ridge Group said in a Wednesday filing the agency should make clear that close-out costs are reimbursable under Rip and Replace and extend the time allotted for that work.
Summit Ridge works with multiple program participants. The consulting firm said the agency’s timeline of four months after the physical work was complete wasn’t enough time to finish the necessary close-out paperwork.
Some companies will need to hire outside consultants to do that work, and that should be reimbursable under the program, Summit Ridge argued. It said that companies it represented after a broadcast incentive auction had their close-out work reimbursed after repacking TV spectrum.
