Emergency Communications

The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system Oct 3, an add-on to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) for TV and radio, which will get its fourth test the same day. Wireless alerts will be sent to cell phones at 2:18 EDT, with the EAS alerts to TV and radio outlets at 2:20.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Edward Parkinson will serve as Acting Chief Executive Officer, following the recent resignation of Mike Poth, who had served as CEO since 2015. Parkinson joined the FirstNet Authority in 2013, after working on the House Homeland Security Committee for then-Chairman Peter T. King (R-NY). During his time with the committee, he drafted the initial bill that began the effort to create FirstNet.

The Federal Communications Commission's October agenda will address three issues critical to advancing the 5G FAST Plan—creating more opportunities for unlicensed innovation in the 6 GHz band, expanding spectrum opportunities for 5G in the 3.5 GHz band, and updating our business data services rules for smaller, rural carriers in order to promote fiber deployment.

Public Knowledge, joined by Greenlining Institute, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), filed a petitioners’ brief in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit requesting the Court vacate the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 Technology Transitions Order, which rolled back consumer protections established in the agency’s 2015 Order.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed rules to help ensure that people who call 911 from multi-line telephone systems— which commonly serve hotels, office buildings, and campuses—can reach 911 and be quickly located by first responders. The action is intended to implement two recently enacted laws designed to improve emergency calling. 

Sept 20th, 2018, marks the one-year anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Maria on the American island of Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island as it devastated homes and infrastructure, and caused nearly 3,000 deaths. The original death toll of Puertoriqueños was 64 victims according to the US government. Could the failure of the island’s communications infrastructure be to blame for the death undercount?

A coalition of Puerto Rican advocates, racial- and social-justice organizations, and media and telecommunications experts urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to appoint an independent commission to examine the causes for the communications failures in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017. In a letter delivered to Chairman Pai on the one-year anniversary of the storm making landfall in Puerto Rico, groups including the Center for Media Justice, Color Of Change, Collective Action for Puerto Rico, Defend Puerto Rico, Free Press, the National Hispanic Media Coalit

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Wednesday, Sept 26, 2018:

In a post on reddit, a person identifying themselves as a Verizon customer in North Carolina complained about a lack of mobile data service, writing,

We traveled into a bigger town and called Verizon to check and see if there was a data outage and when we could expect it to be restored. Only, I was told that my unlimited plan was deprioritized for being to low tier of a plan. But if I upgraded to a higher plan my service would be restored.

Contacted by the Washington Post, Verizon spokesperson Richard Young said,