WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Federal

Communications Commission voted on Thursday to advance a

wireless spectrum auction to provide nearly $3.1 billion for

U.S. telecom companies to remove equipment made by Chinese

telecoms firms Huawei and ZTE (Shenzhen:000063) from American wireless

networks to address security risks.

Congress approved the funding and authorized a one-time

spectrum auction by the FCC for advanced 5G-grade wireless

spectrum in the band known as AWS-3 to help meet rising spectrum

demands of wireless consumers. "Failing to close that funding

gap would have left America's networks needlessly exposed to

security risks," FCC Chair Brendan Carr said.