Smaller Carriers Still Weighing Response to FCC's Resiliency Rules
The biggest apparent policy cut in the FCC’s wireless resiliency rules released Wednesday (see 2207060070) overrules objections by the Competitive Carriers Association and NTCA that the rules shouldn’t apply to small providers. The order creates the mandatory disaster response initiative (MDRI), replacing the industry’s wireless voluntary network resiliency cooperative framework.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The new mandate got relatively little pushback from carriers, which prevailed on the FCC in 2016 to endorse a voluntary framework rather than approve rules as a reaction to Superstorm Sandy four years earlier (see 1612210008), other than concerns raised by smaller providers. Officials from CCA and NTCA said Thursday they're still working their way through the rules and considering their response.
The Rural Wireless Association “gladly welcomes this decision by the Commission to ensure that all Americans, including rural Americans, have access to emergency communications, such as web-based services, in the face of natural disasters when their respective carriers are unable to support their voice and data needs,” the group said Thursday in a statement.
The FCC should also mandate roaming agreements beyond times of disaster, RWA said. “Currently, nationwide carriers often block their respective subscribers from being able to access these rural networks to avoid paying roaming charges,” the group said. “This deprives their subscribers from being able to access rural networks that they helped build through the USF charges on their phone bills.”
“In making the MDRI mandatory for all facilities-based mobile wireless providers, regardless of their size, we reject the views of the CCA and NTCA … that smaller providers should be excepted from today’s rules because they need to prioritize work on their own networks or lack the resources required for compliance in the midst of emergencies,” the order says: “As a practical matter, such concerns can be mitigated. Each of the Framework’s provisions involves significant preparation and coordination steps to be taken well in advance of, rather than in the midst of, an emergency.”
The FCC said “establishing mutual aid agreements, entering into appropriate contractual agreements related to roaming, enhancing municipal preparedness, increasing consumer readiness and preparing and improving public awareness are steps that can be taken in advance of a disaster.”
“CTIA and the wireless industry are proud of the role that wireless plays in helping keep Americans connected during emergencies and natural disasters,” a CTIA spokesperson emailed, saying it will "work with policymakers to ensure we have the flexibility to invest in the tools and strategies that ensure wireless is available when it is needed most.”
Public Knowledge said work remains. In response to the FCC’s inquiry on network resilience following Hurricane Ida, the group “filed comments urging the FCC to expand the framework beyond wireless carriers to include all communications providers, and to require carriers to provide sufficient backup power to keep functioning in the face of extended blackouts,” PK said, saying it will "work with the FCC and Congress to continue to harden and upgrade our critical communications infrastructure.”
The rules also require each facilities-based wireless carrier to sign bilateral roaming agreements “with all other facilities-based mobile wireless providers from which it may foreseeably request roaming privileges, or that may foreseeably request roaming privileges from it, when the MDRI is active.” The FCC said it agrees with APCO “that mandatory roaming is critical to ensuring that the public has access to 9-1-1 and other avenues of emergency communications.” The order also said the roaming provision in the framework “has been sufficiently refined through eight years of implementation to provide a basis for its adoption.”
The rules require providers to work out mutual aid arrangements “with all other facilities-based mobile wireless providers from which it may request, or receive a request for aid during emergencies.” The agreements have to be in place within 30 days of the compliance date of the MDRI.
A Further NPRM seeks comment on the form carriers will use to report compliance. It asks about the need for and proposed contents of a standardized reporting form and “the basis pursuant to which” carriers could “seek confidential treatment for reports under the Commission’s confidentiality rules, or if such reports should be publicly filed.”