The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (“Bureau”) released a Public Notice (“Notice”) seeking comment on the FCC’s response efforts during the 2017 hurricane season, specifically on the resiliency of communications infrastructure, the effectiveness of emergency communications, and government and industry responses. The Notice summarizes the Bureau and the Commission’s response activities and public safety functions throughout the recent hurricane season. The Bureau now seeks comment on several aspects of the hurricane response and recovery efforts, and will continue to coordinate with the Hurricane Recovery Task Force on issues or opportunities that should be addressed in long-term recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the USVI.
The Bureau seeks comment on the following areas:
- Questions regarding impacts to communications infrastructure, including outage information and best practices;
- Questions regarding the FCC’s response, including the information provided from the FCC, responses to requests and waivers, governmental coordination, and interoperability;
- Questions regarding communications server user experience, including EAS and WEA services, 911 services, PSAP operations, first responder networks, and other emergency response programs; and
- Questions regarding communications service provider experience, including equipment issues, DIRS notices, infrastructure restoration, and build-out and maintenance issues.
The Deputy Chief of the Bureau also released a blog post following up on the Notice, noting that the input received from the comments submitted will help the Bureau prepare its approach for future hurricane seasons.
Comments are due January 22, 2018.
Reply comments are due February 21, 2018.
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