Emergency Communications

The Federal Communications Commission added a new alert option—called a “Blue Alert”—to the nation’s emergency alerting systems. Blue Alerts can be used by state and local authorities to notify the public of threats to law enforcement and to help apprehend dangerous suspects. Blue Alerts warn the public when there is actionable information related to a law enforcement officer who is missing, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty, or when there is an imminent credible threat to an officer.

While the Atlantic hurricane season is behind us, recovery efforts – particularly in Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 14, 2017.

Rounding out our December meeting will be two matters that were previewed yesterday.

First, the Federal Communications Commission will consider an order that would restore Internet freedom and return to the bipartisan, light-touch framework that helped America's Internet economy become the envy of the world. And unlike the previous Administration, which pushed through its Internet regulations without letting the public see what was being proposed, anyone can read my plan. It's on the Commission's website —more than three weeks before our scheduled vote.

More than two months have passed since Puerto Rico and the Caribbean were hit by devastating hurricanes. Like so many people and organizations around the world, Microsoft wanted to help. Following our immediate emergency response, we are continuing to work with government agencies and nonprofit partners to help communities to recover. Following an initial donation, we are providing cash, technology, services and telecommunications support to people and organizations working to support the recovery process in the region.

Following 2012's Hurricane Sandy, Verizon has put together a new set of flood barrier and network transformation methods that are designed to achieve two goals: keep its wireline network operational and hasten its ongoing copper-to-fiber migration. During Sandy, which flooded several of its service and central offices, the service provider reported $1 billion in damage due to water and related storm damage.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, fresh off a two-day fact-finding trip to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, talks with B&C Washington Bureau Chief John Eggerton about what he saw, including devastation unlike any of the preceding hurricanes, the need for more Universal Service Fund money, the value of creative thinking about communications solutions, and the lack of an FCC field office that could have helped before and after the storm, he suggests.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrapped up a two-day visit to Puerto Rico on Nov 6, where he met with government and industry officials to see and hear about the status of recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria. "I heard