Starks Hopes Puerto Rico Network Rebuilds, Resiliency Can Inform Crises Elsewhere

Puerto Rico has much to share about resiliency, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in a recent interview after he returned from a field hearing (see 2002260041). "There has not been a network or a people that has been as tested," he said of the hits they took from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and from earthquakes more recently.

Starks vowed to continue his engagement with the territory and re-upped his calls for a commission-level hearing. Chairman Ajit Pai "needs to bring the FCC and all its resources" there to get a better understanding of what it's facing and move forward with a full study and report, he said. "That has been a past practice." Immediately after the hurricanes, "there was a lack of information, just chaos, and nobody knew who was in charge," Starks heard. He said the FCC will make sure there are institutional mechanisms in place to help in the future.

"I heard about a number of hardships, schools that were closed, homes that were swept away," Starks said. People are rebuilding, he said: "We saw the energy there. They have a narrative to tell."

Telecoms that met with Starks were pleased with the level of funding committed to a USF Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund. He said backup power is key to delivering telecom access after a disaster, and some businesses used their own generators for months after the hurricanes. He noted backup generators aren't designed to work that way, an issue that arose in California around wildfires (see 1910110008), he noted.

Starks visited a dense rain forest in the mountains. "Reaching everyone on the island is hard," Starks said. Network rebuilding isn't only about residential service. It's about building infrastructure on the territory's highest points that can support line-of-sight communications for the FAA, Starks said. He met with an FCC staffer who has been traveling to Puerto Rico one week per month to coordinate rebuild efforts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security. Starks said legislation is needed to make FCC disaster information reporting system participation during a natural disaster mandatory (see 2002270059).

Wireless carriers learned after hurricanes and earthquakes they couldn't rely solely on fiber backhaul, said Darrick Kouns, Information Technology Resource Center chief of operations-Puerto Rico. ITRC used two-way satellite communications via VSATs after Hurricane Maria, he said, because it was the only technology guaranteed to work, "as long as we had power and line of sight." Companies must find backup power, Kouns said, because backhauls can be taken down if municipal power goes out. Kouns wants an FCC mandate for emergency power and backhaul by mobile carriers.

Luis Benitez-Burgos of Communications Workers of America local 3010 wants Puerto Rico to have an adequately funded 911 system, to address any future crises. "That was one of the biggest struggles," he said.

Like Starks, Benitez-Burgos would like a full commission field hearing. "Each commissioner brings a different perspective," he said. "A full hearing with all the commissioners would be a broader discussion." He said one was held after Hurricane Katrina, and should be done for Puerto Rico.

A few days after Starks' visit, a NARUC delegation visited the territory to share best practices. President Brandon Presley said the coalition met with commissioners there and discussed quality of service 5G rollouts, pole sharing and Lifeline: "We're seeking to create and expand our peer-to-peer relationships, and so are our colleagues." Presley is from Mississippi, which was hit by Hurricane Katrina, and NARUC members from New York and New Jersey, hit in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy, discussed experiences, he said. "We support relationships for the free flow of information, so we can learn from our experiences," he said. They discussed a public utility commission's role in stability in the event of a Maria-magnitude crisis: "It's very important for the regulatory community to send a clear signal of assurance to the public."

Puerto Rico Public Service Regulatory Board Commissioner Alexandra Fernandez Navarrao attended the NARUC gathering and the Starks visit. She also favors an FCC hearing in Puerto Rico. The island had separate visits from Pai and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel after Maria (see 1803070054), but not yet from Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O'Rielly, she said.

Puerto Rico passed a law last year creating electric co-operatives, and those entities can participate in Rural Utilities Service's ReConnect broadband subsidies, Fernandez Navarro said. They aren't eligible for the upcoming USF Uniendo a Puerto Rico program because it requires participants to have been in business in 2018, she noted. Incentives are needed to support telecom providers in high-cost areas, she said. Population shifts can scare some companies from building, she said: "As people left, and they're not sure who comes back, the question is, 'How do I build for a population that is in constant movement?'"