Communications Status Report for Areas Impacted by Kentucky Tornadoes December 17, 2021 At the request of the Kentucky Statewide Interoperability Coordinator, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in coordination with Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has activated the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for certain counties in Kentucky in response to the December 10-11, 2021 tornadoes. The following is a report on the status of communications services in geographic areas in Kentucky impacted by the December 10-11, 2021 tornadoes as of December 16, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. ET. This report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the FCC’s 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 the tornadoes in Kentucky. The following counties are in the current geographic area that is part of DIRS (the “disaster area”) for today’s report. Kentucky: Breckinridge, Bullitt, Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hickman, Hopkins, Lyon, Marshall, Meade, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Shelby, Spencer, Taylor, Warren 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. No PSAPs are reported as being affected. Wireless Services The following section describes the status of wireless communications services in the disaster area. The chart below shows trends of cell sites out of service in the current disaster area: The chart below shows trends of cell sites out of service by cause in the current disaster area: 2 The current status of wireless communications services is shown by the following chart and map. 3 The following table provides cell sites out of service by county. 1.2% (down from 1.8% yesterday) of the cell sites in the affected area are out of service. The information shown was provided by the signatories to the Wireless Network Resiliency Framework Cooperative Agreement. Kentucky 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 KY BRECKINRIDGE 42 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY BULLITT 67 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY CALDWELL 19 2 10.5% 2 0 0 KY FULTON 3 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY GRAVES 28 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY GRAYSON 36 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY HICKMAN 10 1 10.0% 0 1 0 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. 4 KY HOPKINS 62 3 4.8% 0 3 0 KY LYON 23 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY MARSHALL 34 1 2.9% 1 0 0 KY MEADE 34 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY MUHLENBERG 35 1 2.9% 0 1 0 KY OHIO 45 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY SHELBY 48 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY SPENCER 12 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY TAYLOR 30 0 0.0% 0 0 0 KY WARREN 122 0 0.0% 0 0 0 TOTAL 650 8 1.2% 3 5 0 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 14,161 (down from 24,790 yesterday) subscribers out of service in the disaster area; this may include the loss of telephone, television, and/or Internet services. 5 Broadcast: Television stations status: 1 (no change from yesterday) TV station reported being operational (WLCU-CD). No (no change from yesterday) TV stations are reported as being out of service. FM Radio stations status: 6 (up from 5 yesterday) FM radio stations reported being operational (WBVR-FM, WLCU, WRFM, WSOF, WUHU, WXBC). No (no change from yesterday) FM stations are reported being out of service. AM Radio stations status: 1 (no change from yesterday) AM radio station reported being operational (WBGN). No (no change from yesterday) AM radio stations are reported being out of service. 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 the Kentucky Tornadoes, there have been no STAs requested as of 12 pm on December 17, 2021. 6