The FCC said it opposed a motion seeking an en banc rehearing of a 2017 decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit  that affirmed a 2016 FCC order that rejected a request by groups that petitioned the agency to mandate multilingual Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages (TR Daily, Oct. 17, 2017). “MMTC’s petition should be denied,” the FCC said in its brief in “Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council and the League of United Latin American Citizens v. FCC” (case 16-1222). “The panel correctly rejected an arbitrary and capricious challenge to an FCC decision to seek further information regarding state and local efforts to provide emergency alerts in languages other than English. Its decision raises no issues of exceptional importance, and does not conflict with any decision of this Court or the Supreme Court. Rehearing en banc is therefore unwarranted.”

Courtesy TRDaily

A variety of parties have weighed in on the resiliency of communications infrastructure, the effectiveness of emergency communications, and the responses of the government and industry during the 2017 hurricane season. While some cited actions that helped response to the massive storms, they also suggested improvements, including changes to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) and closer coordination between industry and government stakeholders.

Comments were filed in PS docket 17-344 by yesterday’s deadline in response to a public notice released last month by the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau soliciting views in the wake of the destruction inflicted by four hurricanes last year, including three Category 4 hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria – the first time in history that three Category 4 storms have hit the U.S. in the same season (TR Daily, Dec. 7, 2017).

Wireless services were hit hard, especially by Hurricane Maria. After Harvey, nearly 5% of cell sites were out service across the impacted area in Texas and elsewhere at the peak, and after Irma more than 27% of cell sites were knocked out in Florida and nearly 56% in Puerto Rico. Maria wreaked the worst destruction, with more than 95% of cell sites out in Puerto Rico and more than 76% offline in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But in its comments, CTIA said that Americans were able to rely on wireless services during the hurricanes. “The availability of mobile wireless networks was due, in large part, to the wireless industry’s application of lessons learned from past storms – most notably Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. Wireless providers have invested to strengthen networks, and with the storms approaching, they pre-positioned resources and put into operation the key elements of the 2016 Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework (‘Cooperative Framework’ or ‘Framework’),” CTIA said. “It proved effective in enhancing service continuity and information sharing during and immediately after these historic storms. And when cell sites went down, the Cooperative Framework helped wireless providers and their representatives on the ground restore service as quickly as possible and support the greater rebuilding efforts in impacted communities. In Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where extreme weather conditions and the near total destruction of the electric grid posed significant challenges across the board, the coordination and flexibility provided for in the Cooperative Framework helped wireless providers collaborate and develop innovative solutions to maintain and restore service.” Continue reading →

Because it has “available funding,” the FCC “plans to remain open and pay staff at least through the close of business on Friday, January 26” in the event that Congress fails to pass legislation to continue funding the government between now and then, Office of Media Relations Director Brian Hart said in a statement today.  The current continuing resolution (CR) under which federal government operations are being funded expires at the end of today.

The House passed a measure last night that would extend government funding through Feb. 16 and extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years, as well as authorizing Defense Department funding of “Missile Defeat and Defense Enhancements activities and extending certain health-care related tax provisions.  Negotiations were on-going in the Senate this afternoon, where the Republican majority needs support from Democrats, who want to see the issue of undocumented immigrant child-arrival “dreamers” resolved as part of the CR.

Courtesy TRDAily