NASCA Meets With FCC To Express Support for Submarine Cable Information Clearinghouse

The North American Submarine Cable Association supports an FCC proposal to create a "clearinghouse" for information about submarine cable system landings in the U.S. and discussed potential benefits with International Bureau officials, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 15-206. Representatives of Alaska Communications, AT&T, Tata Communications, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications and Verizon and other undersea cable operators attended the meeting, and NASCA Counsel Kent Bressie said in the filing that the group "emphasized the need for a centralized system of submarine cable deployment and contact information." An NPRM also would allow the creation of an outage reporting system for submarine cable systems (see 1511030019). In its initial filing with the commission about the outage reporting proposal, NASCA called the reporting requirements "needlessly burdensome" but lauded the FCC's focus on submarine cable protection (see 1512040037). During its meeting with the bureau, NASCA cited "overlapping -- and sometimes conflicting" licensing and permitting requirements that "burden" the industry, Bressie said. "The federal permitting process ... overlaps significantly with the state and local reviews." Permitting and licensing requirements tend to be burdensome due to the "logistical challenges inherent to submarine cable installation," the group said. Challenges include "the limited availability of cable ships globally, the expense and difficulty of storing cable when installation is delayed, the need to work around inclement weather and the need to work around seasonal environmental protections for protected species," it said. NASCA also discussed the "importance of coordination and information sharing in order to enhance protection of submarine cable infrastructure during its operational phase." The lack of a central federal government resource for information about installed undersea cable systems, plus a lack of no single point of government contact for undersea cable issues, "often results in agency actions that increase the risk of damage to submarine cable systems," NASCA said.