FCC seeks information about wireless service provider's disaster prepardness

Fri Mar 26 20:10:51 UTC 2021

The same FCC which keeps outage reports secret from the public (and 
congress?), is seeking information about wireless service provider's 
safety measures during disasters.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-362A1.pdf

How have mobile wireless service providers addressed and improved network 
reliability in the face of natural disasters?

Overall, what resiliency measures are most effective?

How can these measures be improved? How have customers responded to new 
measures?

We specifically seek comment on steps wireless mobile providers have taken 
to ensure network resiliency, including but not limited to: back up power 
in areas prone to planned power outages to mitigate wildfires; pre-storm 
staging processes; roaming agreements that can be activated quickly 
following a natural disaster; effective coordination with power 
companies, municipalities, and backhaul providers; diversification of 
backhaul options in disaster prone areas; availability of deployable 
network assets; network infrastructure sharing among operators during 
natural disasters; and communicating disaster-related information with 
customers, particularly members of vulnerable populations, including 
individuals who are low-income, members of the disabilities community, or 
non-English speaking.

Are there successful network resiliency policy measures for fixed
networks that have been applied to wireless networks, especially given 
that much of the backhaul for wireline providers is the same as wireless 
providers?

We also seek comment on cost and benefit issues associated with 
implementing measures to maintain and improve resiliency of mobile 
wireless networks.