The FCC appears headed for approval Thursday of a draft NPRM on facilitating the launch of next-generation 911 with relatively few changes (see 2305180069), industry officials said. APCO asked for added language and NTCA raised small carrier concerns, but otherwise a docket on the NPRM has been quiet since the draft item was circulated two weeks ago. Comments were filed last week in docket 21-479.
Disaster information reporting system data shows outages at 44% of the cellsites and for 6,149 cable and wireline subscribers in the affected portions of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands due to Super Typhoon Mawar. That’s a change from Tuesday, when slightly more cellsites were reported down -- 46.2% -- but far fewer cable and wireline subscribers were affected: 4,959. Wednesday’s DIRS report shows two TV stations and three FM stations out of power, but no public safety answering points affected, all unchanged from the previous report.
Disaster information reporting system data shows 54.2% of the 363 cellsites in the affected portions of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are down due to Typhoon Mawar. Thursday’s DIRS report shows no public safety answering points affected, no broadcast stations down and no cable or wireline outage reports. The agency activated DIRS for Mawar Tuesday
New York state will spend $55 million on emergency communications grants, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Monday. It will include a $45 million state interoperable communications formula grant for the state to reimburse counties for emergency communications systems and a $10 million public safety answering point operations grant program covering call-taking and dispatching costs. “"This funding is critical to strengthening New York's emergency response capabilities,” said Hochul. The deadline for both programs is June 26.
There are wireless/satellite schisms as the FCC tries to put together a framework for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service. The divisions are over whether a preexisting arrangement with a terrestrial mobile operator should be a prerequisite, per docket 23-65 comments that were due Friday. The wireless industry is pushing for SCS applications to be handled by waivers, calling a rules regime premature. Multiple commenters called for streamlining the blanket earth station licensing framework. The SCS NPRM was adopted 4-0 in March (see 2303160009).
Companies face a complicated landscape in dealing with FCC outage reporting rules, speakers said during an FCBA webinar Monday. Last year, FCC commissioners approved rules to improve the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points, but speakers said that’s just part of what the FCC is doing on outage reporting (see 2211170051). More recently, the FCC has looked at 988 outage reporting obligations, the subject of a January NPRM (see 2301040056).
CTIA explained its stance on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR), during a call with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. Commissioners approved an NPRM in December (see 2212210047) and CTIA raised concerns in comments (see 2302170044). The "record confirms" that “the focus should be on promoting location-based capabilities for next generation text services, with wireless providers having the flexibility to implement LBR for text-to-911 in ways that are consistent with their unique network and handset configurations” and smaller carriers “should have more time to deploy LBR within their networks than proposed in the NPRM,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-64.
FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Debra Jordan advised public safety agencies Tuesday to get ready as hurricane and wildfire seasons approach. Jordan noted the work the FCC did to improve the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points (see 2211170051), update wireless priority service (WPS), government emergency telecommunications service (GETS) and other rules (see 2205190057) and the “many recent” commission “actions to make the nation’s emergency alerting systems a stronger tool for public safety officials to warn and protect their communities.” Everyone should “prepare now for communicating during emergencies, especially when the power is out,” Jordan said.
CTIA urged the FCC to put the onus on covered service providers (CSPs) rather than originating service providers (OSPs) if the agency imposes 988 outage reporting obligations, the subject of a January NPRM (see 2301040056). “As 988 communications are routed centrally to a single, nationwide response point, unlike 911 communications, which are routed to local Public Safety Answering Points, it is unclear how OSPs could provide actionable information about local outages to the nationwide 988 Lifeline or other stakeholders,” CTIA said, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 23-5. AT&T agreed rules “must reflect the fundamental differences in service architecture between 911 and 988.” Competitive Carriers Association members don’t “oppose some level of 988 outage reporting and notification,” but also don’t “support duplicative or potentially confusing efforts,” CCA said: If the FCC imposes a 988 outage notification requirement on OSPs, “in many cases, a 30-minute timeframe would be unreasonable and unrealistic, particularly for OSPs utilizing vendors for 988 solutions. Any 988 outage reporting requirement should enable realistic compliance.” The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC rightly proposes rules based on 911 outage reporting requirements approved last year (see 2211170051). The FCC should also require that PSAPs be alerted of 988 outages, NENA said: “If 988 service is not available to a person having a mental health crisis, and they do not have knowledge of an alternative means such as dedicated online chat services, then they may decide to dial 9-1-1 instead.” The group said the 988 system should plan to eventually migrate to next-generation 911 technologies “as a matter of building a more reliable, equitable life-saving service for people with mental health crises.”
It’s getting more difficult for telecom companies to maintain cybersecurity insurance due to the constant barrage of ransomware attacks, NTCA General Counsel Jill Canfield said Tuesday. She highlighted some of the cyber hurdles telecoms face, during an FCBA webinar. If a company has more than one insurance claim a year, the insurance provider will start denying claims, and it’s not easy to find a new provider, she said. Itron Privacy Counsel Nicole Thomas agreed, saying threat actors are going to continue to attack due to the profitability of ransomware efforts.