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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  August  4,  2004  Fred  Thomas 
 (202)  418-  2449 


 FCC  ADOPTS  RULES  TO  ENHANCE  NETWORK  OUTAGE  REPORTING  TO  FACILITATE 
 MORE  RELIABLE  TELECOMMUNICATIONS  AND  PROMOTE  HOMELAND  SECURITY 


 Washington,  D.  C.  -  The  FCC  today  adopted  new  rules  requiring  wireless,  wireline,  cable,  and  satellite  telecommunications  providers  to  report  information  electronically  to  the 
 Commission  about  significant  disruptions  or  outages  to  their  communications  systems.  The  Commission  also  ruled  that  all  sensitive  information  collected  as  a  result  of  these  new  rules  will 
 be  protected  from  public  disclosure. 
 The  FCC’s  actions  are  in  response  to  the  increasing  reliance  consumers  place  on  various  forms  of  two-  way  communications,  and  the  Commission’s  need  for  prompt  information  about 
 significant  disruptions  to  those  communications  during  this  time  of  increasing  concern  about  homeland  security  and  national  defense.  These  actions  will  facilitate  more  reliable 
 telecommunications  throughout  the  United  States  and  promote  Homeland  Security,  building  on  the  telecommunications  industry’s  efforts  to  date  to  improve  outage  reporting. 


 Under  the  new  rules,  both  wireless  and  satellite  providers  will  be  subject,  for  the  first  time,  to  the  Commission’s  reporting  requirements.  Currently,  only  wireline  and  cable  telephony 
 communications  providers  are  required  to  report.  The  increasing  use  of  cell  phones  and  pagers,  as  well  as  the  Nation’s  growing  dependence  on  satellite  communications  as  critical 
 infrastructure,  necessitated  these  changes  to  the  Commission’s  rules. 
 In  addition,  the  Commission  will  require  network  outage  reports  whenever  certain  critical  facilities  are  affected,  including,  for  example,  E911  facilities  and  the  nation’s  larger  airports. 
 The  Commission  will  also  require  network  outage  reports  whenever  especially  critical  transmission  and  network  control  technologies  are  disrupted,  such  as  Signaling  System  7  (SS7) 
 and  DS-  3  transmission  failures. 
 Furthermore,  the  Commission  recognized  that  the  information  collected  as  a  result  of  these  new  rules  is  likely  to  be  sensitive  information  that  would  cause  substantial  competitive  harm 
 and/  or  seriously  undermine  national  defense  and  public  safety  if  publicly  disclosed.  Thus,  the 
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 Commission  found  that  the  information  in  outage  reports  will  need  to  be  protected  from  public  disclosure  to  the  full  extent  of  the  law. 
 To  promote  security  and  ease  outage  reporting,  communications  providers  will  use  an  electronic  template  to  provide  the  requested  information  in  encrypted  form.  The  electronic 
 template  was  derived  from  the  Commission’s  experience  in  administering  network  outage  reporting  requirements  for  wireline  telephone  companies,  and  will  simplify  and  improve  the 
 Commission’s  reporting  requirements. 
 Finally,  in  a  Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  the  Commission  is  seeking  comment  on  additional  issues  in  the  area  of  network  outage  reporting  affecting  telecommunications  service 
 to  airports,  including  appropriate  reporting  requirements  for  smaller  airports  and  for  facilities  not  connected  with  the  Public  Switched  Telecommunications  Network  (PSTN). 


 Action  by  the  Commission  August  4,  2004,  by  Report  and  Order  and  Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  (FCC  04-  188).  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps, 
 Martin  and  Adelstein.  Separate  statements  issued  by  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps,  Martin,  and  Adelstein 


 Office  of  Engineering  and  Technology  contact:  Kent  Nilsson,  202-  418-  0845,  e-  mail  –  Kent.  Nilsson@  fcc.  gov;  Jeff  Goldthorp,  202-  418-  1096,  e-  mail  –  Jeffery.  Goldthorp@  fcc.  gov. 
 ET  Docket  No.  04-  35 
 -FCC- 
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