The new Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group of the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee has begun its work. The agency asked the new group to develop best practices for coordination among wireless providers, backhaul providers, and power companies before, during and after a disaster.
Red Grasso and WIA President/CEO Jonathan Adelstein co-chair the working group.
A former firefighter, Grasso is now the FirstNet point of contact for North Carolina. During a presentation before the BDAC last Friday, Adelstein said being vice chair of the group “is an enormous responsibility,” calling communications restoration “life-saving work” during disasters when people’s lives and property are at stake. While there is coordination now among the different facets of the wireless industry during disasters, “We can always do better.”
Grasso said the working group’s 28 members will identify different procedures from government agencies, service providers and others to identify data gathering, “that can really improve the emergency response.”
“Recovery is one of those issues that is sometimes overlooked,” said Grasso, adding there’s still recovery going on “from long-past disasters.” Comments? E-mail us.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
December 11, 2018
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