UPDATE FCC Commissioners recently voted on rules to improve the reliability of wireless networks during emergencies. The changes would mandate carrier participation in the wireless resiliency framework and mandate roaming during disasters. Details were released yesterday.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr proposed the changes at an event hosted by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials in May. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel shared a draft version with her colleagues last month, Inside Towers reported.
The Commission said when it began the proceeding last year that events including Hurricane Ida, earthquakes in Puerto Rico, severe winter storms in Texas, and hurricane and wildfire seasons continue to demonstrate how the United States’ communications infrastructure remains susceptible to disruption during disaster events. The need to strengthen the nation’s wireless networks has been further underscored since that time in the face of on-going wildfires in New Mexico and other western states and the forecast that 2022 will bring another historically active hurricane season.
The agency used the Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework as a starting point to introduce the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative (MDRI). The MDRI builds upon the framework’s foundation, including lessons learned, and delivers tools to promote public safety in times of disaster and will ensure more seamless and effective roaming in disaster situations.
To date in 2022, there are seven signatories to the framework: AT&T Mobility, CTIA, GCI, Southern Linc, T-Mobile, UScellular, and Verizon Wireless. The Competitive Carriers Association supports the framework. In 2017, CTIA released a set of best practices for enhancing emergency and disaster preparedness and restoration as part of its commitment to the framework.
In a Report and Order, the MDRI largely codifies the framework’s five substantive provisions as mandatory. It extends the reach of the provisions to all facilities-based mobile wireless providers, and expands the real-world criteria that trigger activation of the MDRI. It also introduces new provisions requiring providers to test their roaming capabilities and report on the performance of their implementation of the MDRI to the Commission after disasters.
The Report and Order requires that all facilities-based mobile wireless providers, including providers that signed the framework, comply with the MDRI. Verizon agreed the framework “could apply to all wireless providers,” while AT&T said it could apply to providers that have not signed it but are capable of roaming.
The FCC believes mandating the requirements for a broader segment of the wireless industry “will enhance and improve disaster and recovery efforts on the ground in preparation for, during, and in the aftermath of disaster events, including by increasing predictability and streamlining coordination in recovery efforts among providers.” The Commission says the MDRI provides baseline actions and assurances that facilities-based mobile wireless providers will undertake to ensure effective coordination and planning to maintain and restore network connectivity around disasters.
The FCC rejected suggestions from the Competitive Carriers Association and NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association that smaller providers should be exempt from the new rules because they need to prioritize work on their own networks or lack the resources required for compliance in the midst of emergencies. “We find that, as a practical matter, such concerns can be mitigated,” notes the FCC.
Public safety and first responder groups lobbied for the changes, especially stressing that mandatory roaming is critical to ensuring the public has access to 911 and web-based communication during emergencies.
The changes become effective 30 days after Federal Register publication.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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