FCC Actions Fixate On Hurricane Emergency

Telecom Policy Report, Sept 12, 2005

Among all the sweeping issues and majors challenges surfacing in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina emergency, the telecommunications community for the past two weeks has turned to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a focal point of reaction, repair and recovery efforts associated with the storm's significant destruction of landline and radio infrastructures in the affected Gulf Coast region.

The FCC's role in the Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi disaster areas undoubtedly stretched over multiple tasks, and across all service provider and industry boundaries. The regulatory agency essentially sought to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and sheer paperwork volumes that would have proved overly burdensome to wireline and wireless carriers in a massive reconstruction following the Aug. 29 storm.

At the same time, numerous FCC actions were designed to help thousands of displaced residential and business enterprise users to effectively reconnect themselves on either a temporary or a permanent basis in the ravaged region and across the United States. They also were designed to help ensure that the traditional consumer-protection mechanisms were clearly and aggressively reinforced amid the chaos.

Without making any such statements outright, it was apparent that the FCC not only has been sensitive to the urgency within the tight-knit telecom universe, but it also moved quickly, thus averting the bitter criticisms leveled at the relief and rescue abilities of local, state and federal elected officials and appointed managers. To that extent, it appeared the FCC practiced several reasonable collision-avoidance measures early, and its overall image was not sent wholesale into any so-called "damage-control" modes.

There was some scrutiny and sharp questioning of the FCC last week during a lengthy House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that fixed on the Hurricane Katrina recovery (see related story in this issue of TPR), yet it paled in comparison with the amount of attention and harsh political commentary given to a top national priority: the extensive supply, demand, price and profit debates concerning oil, gasoline and natural gas that have accompanied the storm's aftermath.

Beginning The Rebuilding

Despite that hearing and other special congressional sessions regarding aid packages, it was obvious that Washington, D.C., at times during the past two weeks was missing any number of people who were assigned tasks, who were doing volunteer work or who were handling personal matters in the ravaged areas, including employees of such high-profile, dominant operators as BellSouth, Cingular Wireless and many other companies, various inside-the-Beltway industry associations plus Capitol Hill lawmakers and staff.

In fact, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin and Commissioner Michael J. Copps last week visited communities in the Gulf Coast region affected by Hurricane Katrina in order to witness "first hand the impact of the storm on the residents and the region's telecommunications infrastructure."

"In the days ahead, the challenge will be facilitating service restoration," said Martin and Copps in a prepared statement. "But in the long term, we will need to learn from this event and work together to improve the reliability, survivability, and security of our nation's telecommunications networks."

The commission also disclosed that the agenda of its regularly scheduled open meeting this Thursday (Sept. 15) will only focus on the effects of Hurricane Katrina on communications services in the Gulf Coast states; slated to start at 9:30 a.m. in Room TW-C305 at 445 12th Street, S. W., the meeting is expected to offer the most current bureau-level presentations on this sole topic.

On Aug. 30, Martin established an internal task force consisting of senior executives and management from within the commission to coordinate the FCC's hurricane-response efforts in two categories: regulatory relief, and industry outreach and coordination with other federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Communications System (NCS); the task force is said to have been working on its assignments continuously since its formation.

"The commission has been in continual contact with the industry and has taken prompt action, where necessary, to provide regulatory relief to facilitate restoration efforts," the FCC stated. "For example, the commission has created opportunities for providers to deploy alternative means of communication in the affected region. We have also assisted in performing coordination activities between the industry and federal emergency authorities as appropriate. We will continue doing everything within our power to ensure the vitality of the nation's communications network. We are confident that all service providers will do the same."

Burning The Weekend Oil

The FCC (at estimated staff levels of about 200) has remained opened from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the past two weekends (including the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 5), mostly to provide the emergency telecom-service authorizations necessary in facilitating relief and reconstruction efforts by service providers. During these hours, the FCC indicated callers contacted its major operating departments: the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the Enforcement Bureau, the International Bureau (for satellite issues), the Media Bureau, the Office of Engineering and Technology, the Wireline Competition Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. In addition, industry callers ostensibly were calling the FCC's Financial Operations Help Desk, and emergency access assistance also was available via the FCC's 24-hour call-handling Communications Center.