Communications Status Report for Areas Impacted by Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas September 17, 2021 The following is a report on the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas as of September 17, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. This report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). Note that the operational status of communications services during a disaster may evolve rapidly, and this report represents a snapshot in time. This report also summarizes certain regulatory actions taken by the FCC to assist areas impacted by Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas. The following counties are in the current geographic area that is part of DIRS (the “disaster area”) for today’s report. Louisiana: Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne. 1 911 Services The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) learns the status of each Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) through the filings of 911 Service Providers in DIRS, reporting to the FCC’s Public Safety Support Center, coordination with state 911 Administrators and, if necessary, direct contact with individual PSAPs. Louisiana: No PSAPs are reported as being affected. Wireless Services The following section describes the status of wireless communications services in the disaster area. The current status of wireless communications services by county is shown by the following chart and map. 2 The following table provides cell sites out of service by county. 4.6% of the cell sites in the affected area in Louisiana are out of service. The information shown was provided by the signatories to the Wireless Network Resiliency Framework Cooperative Agreement. Louisiana Cell Cell Cell Sites Cell Sites Out Cell Sites Affected Sites Sites Percent Out Due to Due to Out Due to State Counties Served Out Out Damage Transport1 Power LA JEFFERSON 301 6 2.0% 1 2 3 LA LAFOURCHE 82 7 8.5% 1 3 3 LA LIVINGSTON 125 3 2.4% 0 1 1 LA PLAQUEMINES 58 9 15.5% 4 4 1 1 These are cell sites that are out due to issues with the (typically wireline) networks that route communications traffic to and from the cell sites. 3 LA ST. MARY 56 1 1.8% 0 1 0 LA ST. BERNARD 39 1 2.6% 1 0 0 LA ST. CHARLES 42 1 2.4% 1 0 0 LA ST. HELENA 14 3 21.4% 0 1 2 LA ST. JAMES 34 3 8.8% 3 0 0 ST. JOHN THE LA BAPTIST 28 4 14.3% 1 3 0 LA TANGIPAHOA 130 1 0.8% 0 0 1 LA TERREBONNE 86 7 8.1% 2 4 2 TOTAL 995 46 4.6% 14 19 13 The number of cell site outages in a specific area does not necessarily correspond to the availability of wireless service to consumers in that area. See Improving the Resiliency of Mobile Wireless Communications Networks, Order, 31 FCC Rcd 13745, para. 10 (2016) (recognizing the difficulties in accurately depicting the ongoing status of a wireless provider’s service during emergencies). Wireless networks are often designed with numerous, overlapping cell sites that provide maximum capacity and continuity of service even when an individual site is inoperable. In addition, wireless providers frequently use temporary facilities such as cells- on-wheels (also known as COWs), increased power at operational sites, roaming agreements, or take other actions to maintain service to affected consumers during emergencies or other events that result in cell site outages. Cable Systems and Wireline (Combined) Cable and wireline companies reported 86,935 subscribers out of service in the disaster area in Louisiana; this may include the loss of telephone, television, and/or Internet services: Broadcast: Television stations status: • 4 TV stations reported being operational (WGNO, WLAE-TV, WNOL-TV, WVUE-DT). • No TV station is reported as being out of service . FM Radio stations status: • 6 FM radio stations reported being operational (KKND, KLXH, KMEZ, WEMX, WRQQ, W208FC). • 2 FM stations reported being out of service (KSLU, WNKV). AM Radio stations status: • 2 AM radio stations reported being operational (WQNO, WSHO). • No AM radio stations reported being out of service. 4 Special Temporary Authority (STA)/Waivers/Extensions The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may grant Special Temporary Authority (STA) to permit immediate or temporary operation of certain radio facilities during emergencies or other urgent conditions, as well as waivers to support emergency communications and service restoration. During Hurricane Ida, there have been 7 STAs granted as of 11 am September 17: a verbal STA to the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, an STA for station KVDU, and 2 STAs to ERA Helicopters LLC, 1 STA to K274DE - Coastal Broadcasting of Larose, Inc, and 2 STAs to Verizon. The FCC granted waivers as follows: • ARRL emergency request for a temporary waiver to permit higher symbol rate data transmissions for Hurricane Ida traffic. • Temporary waiver to allow carriers in affected areas greater flexibility in number portability, to assist in restoring service to affected customers more quickly. • Waiver to extend the Form 477 deadline and the A110 Upfront Payment and App Resubmission deadline. • Waived number aging rules to allow providers to hold disconnected numbers for more than the usual 90 days for customers who wish to temporarily disconnect service and then reconnect after recovery is complete. On September 3, the FCC took a series of actions to extend deadlines and waive rules to assist consumers, licensees and communications providers in Louisiana and Mississippi impacted by Hurricane Ida, as follows: • Waived certain rules and deadlines for the E-Rate, Rural Health Care, Lifeline, High Cost, Emergency Connectivity Fund, and Emergency Broadband Benefit programs. • Released a Public Notice establishing October 1, 2021 as the new deadline for submission of Form 477 data as of June 30, 2021 for affected filers in Louisiana and Mississippi. For all other filers the deadline is September 15, 2021. • Extended until October 1, 2021, certain deadlines that would occur between August 29, 2021 and September 30, 2021. This includes construction deadlines and filing deadlines for certain license modifications, license renewals, and construction notifications. 5