Huawei’s Battle Against FCC’s Subsidy Ban Faces Long Odds

Huawei Technologies Co.'s Fifth Circuit challenge to a Federal Communications Commission ban against carriers using federal subsidies to buy its equipment is unlikely to succeed, attorneys and academics watching the case say.

The Chinese company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit claiming the commission violated its rights by barring telecommunications providers from using Universal Service Funds for its hardware. But the agency has broad authority under federal communications law to regulate how USF subsidies are distributed, and courts tend to defer to the agency’s interpretation of statutes.

The Communications Act gives the FCC ...