Rep. Pallone requests FCC review of wireless communications resiliency

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) recently wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to ask for an evaluation of the resiliency of the United States’ wireless networks.

Pallone requested that the commission review the effectiveness of the Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, a plan developed to strengthen network resiliency during emergencies, after hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Pallone worked with the industry last year to create the framework.

“During natural disasters, people depend on networks to call for help, monitor the status of loved ones, and coordinate restoration efforts afterward,” Pallone said in the letter. “And while much has been done to strengthen the resiliency of these networks, more is clearly needed. Given the recent devastating hurricanes, the FCC has an obligation to review the state of our communications systems, the resilience of our 911 systems, and whether the Framework lives up to its potential.”

The review requested by Pallone would include an analysis of available data to determine the root cause of outages, the impact of recent natural disasters on our networks, the networks’ resiliency in the face of those disasters as well the conducting of field hearings an evaluation of the FCC’s options for addressing any issues raised during the review.