On April 8, 2024, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (“PSHSB”) released a Public Notice reminding facilities based wireless providers that they must comply with the requirements of the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative (“MDRI”) by May 1, 2024. As of May 1, and whenever the MDRI is activated thereafter, facilities-based mobile wireless providers must:
- Have their bilateral roaming agreements and mutual aid agreements in place.
- Have performed a complete first round of testing of their roaming capabilities.
- Have taken “reasonable measures to enhance municipal preparedness and restoration, increase consumer readiness and preparation, and improve public awareness and stakeholder communications on service and restoration status.”
- If they operate in a certain geographic area in the aftermath of a disaster, submit reports detailing the timing, duration, and effectiveness of their implementation of the MDRI within 60 days of the PSHSB’s notice that such reports must be filed.
The Notice also reminds carriers that the MDRI may be activated when any of the following three conditions applies:
- Any entity authorized to declare Emergency Support Function 2 (ESF-2) activates ESF-2 for a given emergency or disaster;
- The Commission activates the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS); or
- The Chief of the Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issues a Public Notice activating the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative in response to a state request to do so, where the state has also either activated its Emergency Operations Center, activated mutual aid, or proclaimed a local state of emergency.
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