FCC Disaster Information Reporting System Struggling Post-Maria
The FCC Disaster Information Reporting System has been unable to capture solid information from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria, industry officials told us Wednesday. To report to DIRS requires internet access and, with most of the island offline, reports aren’t making it through. A U.S. broadcast official said virtually all radio stations are off-air, based on information from the Puerto Rican Broadcasters Association that is just starting to trickle out. The FCC is sending four staffers to Puerto Rico to gather verifiable information, officials said (see 1709260044). The agency didn't comment.
Luis Romero, vice president of the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Industry Alliance, said residents are facing massive issues, but must fix a few problems first. Romero said the U.S. territory is having a communications breakdown unprecedented in modern U.S. history. The FCC is “aware of the situation and we’re asking that they be more aware,” he said. “We are facing a situation like Sandy and Katrina, multiplied exponentially” with no way to bring in support by truck, as happened with those storms, he said. Romero said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been very responsive and has spoken to industry officials from Puerto Rico.
The top priority is fixing cable submarine landings, “otherwise Puerto Rico is cut off from the rest of the world,” Romero said. The next is fixing central office tandems of Claro, the territory’s major incumbent provider, he said. “They have to be up,” he said. “Everybody connects there except through the internet.” Also critical is restoring the operations of long-distance and international carriers, he said. “We have worry about what we can keep right now.”
"Since there are widespread power outages in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the FCC has received reports that large percentages of consumers are without either cable services or wireline service (one company reported that 100% of its consumers are out of service due to lack of commercial power)," said Wednesday's DIRS report. On telecom switches, at least 18 are offline, it said. One TV station and nine radio stations in Puerto Rico are off-air. And 91 percent of cellsites there aren't working.
Writing Trump
The telecom alliance wrote President Donald Trump Monday. The group asked for federal help getting fuel to critical parts of the communications infrastructure including cellsites. “We need a command and control structure that coordinates the logistics between the fuel distributors that have diesel, the tank trucks with drivers to deliver the diesel, and the telecommunications companies that receive them,” the letter said. “We also need to set aside exclusive gasoline stations in strategic points throughout the Island where our 3,000+ technicians can fill with gasoline their vehicles tanks. The fuel is available, but the distribution process is non-existent and/or embargoed. ... We need security. The fuel trucks are being hijacked and scant fuel we have is being stolen from the emergency power plants. The current situation of total chaos will lead to a total blackout of communications if not controlled today.”
Romero said he has been in constant contact with the Department of Homeland Security since the alliance sent the letter. As of Wednesday, some of the issues are being addressed, he said. The White House didn’t comment. The government of Puerto Rico has had to relocate its emergency control center four times, but now has a permanent center in San Juan’s convention center, he said.
Ex-Commissioner Worries
Gloria Tristani, a former FCC commissioner who is from Puerto Rico, said she spoke to three family members last week and now can’t reach anyone. “What I’m hearing is it’s a disaster, looks like a war zone,” she said. Tristani has heard few radio stations are on-air and 911 is virtually unreachable. Communications poles and transmission lines are down everywhere, she said. “There’s no amount of planning that could have averted that.”
Tristani stressed that the Communications Act specifies that Puerto Rico and the USVI are to be treated like states. Commissioners eventually should go there to conduct a hearing, she said. “When I was at the commission I had to remind my fellow commissioners, who were all thoughtful and good, that Puerto Rico is part of the United States.”
Jamie Barnett, former chief of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, now at Venable, said the damage isn’t comparable to recent big hurricanes, but rather like the devastating Haiti earthquake of 2010. “You have taken out first responders,” he said. “You’ve taken out governmental functions, the power grid, communications, healthcare.” The FCC did studies after the Haiti earthquake and may need to look at what it found then, Barnett said.
Fletcher Heald’s Frank Montero, focusing on Maria since before the storm, said some radio stations that were operating are apparently going down because of fuel issues. Broadcasters and other industry groups said the FCC should send staff to Puerto Rico so there are “boots on the ground” to address “a myriad of different problems,” he said.
Storm Notebook
Wednesday's DIRS Maria update said 66 percent of cellsites are down in the U.S.Virgin Islands. Thirty-one out of 78 counties in Puerto Rico have 100 percent of their cellsites out. The two 911 call centers in Puerto Rico are “currently functioning,” but the U.S. Virgin Islands call center is down, the FCC said. Telemundo virtual channel 2 UHF 28 is on-air in Puerto Rico, as are numerous radio stations, said the report.
The FCC extended the deadline for filing FY 2017 regulatory fees from the end of the day Tuesday until the end of the Friday for regulatees affected by Maria in Puerto Rico and the USVI. The extension was the longest allowed under FCC rules, industry officials said. A Wednesday notice by the Office of Managing Director directs payors to contact the FCC if they “anticipate that they might experience challenges with meeting the payment date, as extended, or have questions.”