The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Tuesday it had rejected a petition from ZTE Corp asking the agency to reconsider its decision designating the Chinese company as a U.S. national security threat to communications networks.

The FCC announced in June it had formally designated Chinese’s Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE as threats, a declaration that bars U.S. firms from tapping an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies.

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