FCC To Test Revised Disaster Reporting System

The FCC Public Safety Bureau will introduce a new version of the FCC Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) for "testing and, ultimately, operational use,” over the next two months, the FCC said Monday in a public notice. The new version of NORS is to be online as early as Tuesday, the notice said. Part 4 of the FCC’s rules require providers of voice and paging communications providers to report significant disruptions or outages to their communications systems. The FCC is to consider an order on changes to NORS at its May 25 meeting, along with a rulemaking on expanding the requirements to cover broadband providers (see 1605050053). “The new platform contains improvements that will enhance the overall security and reliability of NORS and allow future evolution to best support new communications technologies and analytic methods,” the notice said.