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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 Re:  New  Part  4  of  the  Commission’s  Rules  Concerning  Disruptions  to  Communications,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rule  Making,  ET  Docket  No.  04-  35, 
 I  recognize  that  a  discussion  of  mandatory  reporting  requirements  for  wireless  and  satellite  providers  is  not  embraced  by  everyone  in  industry.  But  I  believe  the  time  is  right  to  look  at  this  important 
 issue.  As  we  have  heard  today,  our  country  continues  to  increasingly  rely  on  alternative  technologies  for  communications.  Events  over  the  past  several  years  dictate  that  this  Commission  has  access  to  accurate 
 and  immediate  information  when  there  are  significant  disruptions  to  our  nation’s  communications  systems. 
 There  has  been  a  significant  effort  by  a  number  of  industry  representatives  to  work  with  a  voluntary  system  for  outage  reporting.  And  that  effort  should  be  applauded.  It  is  unclear,  though,  if  the 
 voluntary  trial  was  truly  successful  in  that  it  may  not  have  provided  the  depth  and  breadth  of  information  we  really  need.  That  concerns  me,  and  makes  this  item  all  the  more  necessary. 


 I  am  pleased  that  we  also  explore  in  today’s  item  improved  methods  for  reporting  disruption  information  electronically.  These  new  procedures  would  apply  to  all  providers  subject  to  outage  reporting 
 requirements.  This  is  a  positive  step  forward  that  will  hopefully  simplify  the  process  for  both  industry  and  the  Commission  staff  responsible  for  reviewing  such  filings. 
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