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wiredInUSA - October 2015
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The
Federal
Communications
Commission has voted to propose new
rules designed to tighten the outage
reporting rules with new requirements for
submarine cables. The goal, as stated
by the FCC, is to “help safeguard this
critical communications infrastructure
and promote reliable communications
for businesses and consumers.”
Submarine cables have become a
point of vital importance for global
telecommunications infrastructure. As
the FCC noted in a statement, “There
are approximately 60 submarine cables
that provide connectivity – voice, data
and Internet – between themainland US
and Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American
Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands,
Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as
well as virtually all connectivity between
the US and the rest of the world. While
submarine cables are vital to America’s
economic and national security,
licensees currently only report outages
on an ad hoc basis, and the information
received by the FCC is too limited to be
of use.”
New requirements could provide for
more accurate reporting, helping
regulators to take action to prevent
outages that could present a public
safety hazard, or a threat to national
security.
Proposed rules are open for public
comment.
Possible new rules for outage
reports