Cell Outage Data During a Disaster Shouldn’t Become Part of an Advertising Campaign, AT&T Says
AT&T strongly urged the FCC not to impose requirements, proposed in November, that wireless carriers submit information for public disclosure on cell site operational status during and immediately after major disasters. The FCC agreed to seek comment in September over the dissent of Commissioner Ajit Pai, on a 2-1 vote while Mignon Clyburn was still acting chairwoman (CD Sept 27 p3). Under the proposal, the FCC would release data on the percentage of towers still up and running for each county in a disaster area whenever the commission’s Disaster Information Reporting System is fully or partially activated.
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The questions raised by AT&T were similar to those raised by Pai during the September commission meeting. “While well intended, we believe the proposal ... is unnecessary, counter-productive, and potentially harmful,” AT&T said (http://bit.ly/LCciLN). “We believe the proposed metric would not provide consumers useful information and may in fact be misleading.” Instead of fostering competition after a disaster, the FCC should focus on cooperation, AT&T said. “For the Commission to inject a government-sponsored performance metric into this public safety space would turn disaster recovery into a contest between and among carriers,” the carrier said. “Cooperation might disappear, and carriers would focus on post-disaster statistics and on how FCC-sponsored ratings could be used in future advertising.”
APCO said public safety answering points (PSAPs) may need more information than would be disclosed if the FCC imposes a mandate. But cell site data is especially important to consumers, because most 911 calls come from wireless phones, APCO said. “We note our long-standing support for the concept of transparency, and for any viable approach that is likely to improve wireless network resiliency and reliability,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1mBTCdD). “Aside from any potential competitive incentives, the correct type and manner of wireless carrier disclosures could be especially useful for PSAPs and other public safety personnel.”
AARP also wants carriers to have to disclose outage information. The group questioned whether the NPRM goes far enough. “AARP believes a broader reporting than envisioned by the NPRM would more fully inform consumers, thus enabling more effective consumer responses,” AARP said (http://bit.ly/1f42jdb). “If consumers are more fully informed, the disclosure mechanism will also create a stronger incentive for carriers to improve network performance.”