FCC Sees Including Electric Utilities in Resiliency Framework as Addressing Wildfires, Pai Tells House Democrats
The FCC believes its push to expand the scope of industry’s wireless resiliency cooperative framework to include electric utilities will help better address wildfire threats, Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, Rep. Anna Eshoo and…
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two other Democrats in California’s House delegation, in letters released Friday. Matsui, Eshoo and Reps. Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson raised concerns in December that the FCC Public Safety Bureau’s review of the wireless resiliency framework “lacks targeted recommendations for wildfires.” The bureau sought additional feedback on the framework in April 2019 in light of seven hurricanes that hit the U.S. in 2017 and 2018 (see 1904010047). Eshoo, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and others have been pressing for more attention to the telecom impact of 2019 California wildfires (see 1911010039). “Expanding the scope of the framework to include electric utilities is especially important given the role a lack of power has played in cutting off access to communications to consumers,” Pai said in letters released Friday. “I have directed agency staff to engage with all stakeholders to ensure the whole swath of those responsible for keeping the communications networks up and running are participating in an expanded framework.” Matsui and the three other California Democrats filed their Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5918) in a bid to improve network outage reporting practices. The bill would direct the FCC to issue reports and do field hearings after activating the Disaster Information Reporting System. It would also require the FCC to do a rulemaking aimed at improving wireless carriers’ alerts to public safety answering points on network outages that prevent consumers from making 911 calls or hinder phone number identification. HR-5918 is one of eight public safety communications measures House Communications will examine during a Thursday hearing (see 2002200060). In a letter also released Friday, Pai told House Commerce Committee Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., the FCC "remains committed to assisting Puerto Rico's efforts to strengthen and harden its communications networks," including through its Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hosted a field hearing in Puerto Rico Friday about the need for network resiliency after widespread damage from hurricanes in 2017 and more recent earthquakes (see 2002200021).