Remarks of Commissioner Starks at Field Hearing on Resilient Networks

As our communications networks have expanded, we sometimes take stable, reliable access to communications—and the access to friends and family, emergency services, employment, and all of the many benefits those networks provide—for granted. Puerto Rico’s experience, especially in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, shows that we shouldn’t. I call on the Federal Communications Commission to bring the full strength of its resources and to come to Puerto Rico, engage with all stakeholders here to understand what happened to the communications networks on the island and its people, understand what can be done better, and issue a report after a thorough assessment.