STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Improving Outage Reporting for Submarine Cables and Enhanced Submarine Cable Outage 
Data, GN Docket No. 15-206, Report and Order.
There are roughly 300 submarine cables buried in the coldest and darkest depths of our oceans.  
We may not see them but we rely on them daily.  
Submarine cables are an essential part of the global economy.  They are responsible for $10 
trillion worth of transactional value every day.  That is more than triple what the United States spends on 
healthcare annually.  It’s greater than the Gross Domestic Product of Japan, Germany, and Australia—
combined.  It’s a big deal.  
Submarine cables are also critical for our national security.  They support military communication 
both at home and abroad.  Our troops depend on them and they help keep us safe.
But these cables are vulnerable to damage and attack—from natural disasters, aquatic vessels, sea 
life, and those who want to do us harm.  So we need to know when communications over these 
indispensable facilities are compromised.  
In the past, the Commission monitored submarine cable outages through voluntary reporting.  But 
this was an ad hoc system.  It had serious limitations.  The information we received was not standardized, 
not uniform, and not particularly useful.  Outages and disruptions went unreported—leaving us unable to 
identify how to prevent them.  
Today, we replace the makeshift practices of the past with a process to ensure that the 
Commission receives timely and consistent outage information.  I support this effort.  I believe it is 
consistent with the Cable Landing License Act.  I also believe we need to be open to recalibrating these 
policies over time—so we develop the information we need to protect these facilities—because modern 
life depends on them.