FCC Reports Slow Progress on Post-Sandy Restoration
The FCC reported that as of Friday morning the number of cell sites still down over a 146-county area most affected by Sandy is 15 percent, down from 19 percent Thursday and 25 percent Tuesday morning in a larger area following the storm. Cable outages were at 17 percent in the 146-county area and 911 call center problems remain, the agency said. The FCC has also issued four additional grants of special temporary authority.
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"As before … restoration efforts in the hardest hit areas -- including New York and New Jersey -- are more difficult,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky. “While communications providers are still working hard to replenish fuel supplies for generators, they tell us that the fuel situation is beginning to improve.” 911 calls can be received at call centers throughout the area, “but there are still limited cases where calls are being re-routed to another center or do not contain location information,” Turetsky said. “We are staying in contact with the affected 911 centers, state and local authorities, and communications providers to help ensure that 911 remains operational while full capabilities are restored.” The agency “will continue to work with stakeholders throughout government and the private sector to assess and help restore communications in these areas,” Turetsky said.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, meanwhile, highlighted the FCC’s response to Sandy, in an appearance on C-SPAN’s The Communicators that was set to be shown over the weekend. The first question for her was on the storm, which has caused massive communications problems across a broad swath of the eastern U.S., especially in New York and New Jersey. Clyburn said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Turetsky both pulled all-nighters Monday, monitoring the storm. “In terms of the FCC’s engagement, as you know, the chairman literally spent the night at the agency, our public safety person did the same,” she said. “We are definitely engaged in the process.”
Clyburn said it’s “too early” for the FCC to assess whether the aftermath to Sandy saw improvements in the robustness of communications systems relative to past storms. “We will do better next time if there’s room to do better,” she said. The response to the storm from carriers has been mostly positive, she said. “People see that deployments have been made as soon as it is safe to do so, and that a lot of the systems worked as best as they could under the circumstances,” she said. The storm showed the continuing importance of payphones, Clyburn said. “In terms of communications engagement, it is an all-of-the-above approach,” she said. “Very few things are too legacy for use and very few things are not vulnerable."
Major carriers continue to provide updates on restoration efforts following the hurricane that combined with a severe storm. Verizon said as of Friday morning, 97.2 percent of the carrier’s cell sites in affected areas are back online. “In severely impacted areas, such as Lower Manhattan, while wireless service has yet to return to normal levels, coverage is good,” Verizon said. “We also continue to deploy mobile disaster recovery and emergency network assets to fortify our network. Our back-up power equipment, including permanent and mobile generators, are keeping cell sites and other network elements operating. However, telecom and residual flooding issues continue to be a factor."
Sprint Nextel said its network is fully restored in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Maine, Vermont, Ohio and Kentucky, as of Friday afternoon. “Significant progress has also been made for customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, where the Sprint Network is more than 90 percent operational,” Sprint said. “In New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Sprint’s network is more than 80 percent operational, but challenges remain for the hardest hit areas of these states, including metropolitan New York City and portions of the New Jersey coast."
T-Mobile reported “good progress in restoring network service to areas in the path of devastation from Hurricane Sandy,” in a Thursday update. “Network technicians are working as quickly as possible to restore service by deploying generators to cell sites where power outages continue and to repair damage caused by high winds and flooding.” A spokeswoman said the carrier would not provide a Friday update. AT&T said Friday it is working with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “to quickly deploy generator-driven charging stations and RVs with charging capabilities for New Yorkers at local Food and Water Stations being set up throughout the five boroughs. In addition, people in affected areas are invited to visit any of AT&T’s approximately 400 retail store locations now open through the Northeast to charge their devices."