"The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today denied a petition for reconsideration of the Bureau’s June 30, 2020 order designating ZTE as a company posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain," the FCC said on Tuesday. "After reviewing the record, the Bureau found no basis for reconsideration."

As a result, the FCC’s $8.3 billion a year Universal Service Fund cannot be used to purchase, obtain, maintain, improve, modify or otherwise support any equipment or services produced or provided by ZTE, as well as its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, the statement added.

The FCC announced in June it had formally designated ZTE and China’s Huawei Technologies Co as threats.

The FCC will vote on December 10 on rules to help carriers remove and replace untrusted equipment from networks.