Calls to backup power for mobile phone service
The wireless industry has for years successfully fought regulations that would force mobile phone networks to be hardened so they work during storms, but it may face renewed demands after Hurricane Harvey knocked out seven of 10 cell towers in the hardest-hit counties of Texas.
Across the 55-county disaster area in Texas and Louisiana, nearly one in 20 sites were out as of Tuesday, according to the Federal Communications Commission. In the state’s biggest city Houston, 5.1 per cent of cell sites weren’t working, according to the FCC.
“The wireless industry has done everything it can to persuade federal regulators and state regulators not to require that backup power be put in place,” said Regina Costa, chair of the telecommunications committee of the National Association of State Utility Advocates, which speaks for consumer representatives. “It’s a huge public safety issue — because in order for communications to work there has to be power.”
The FCC imposed power backup requirements after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 knocked out more than 1,000 cell sites — roughly triple the number of power failures seen with Harvey — due partly to power blackouts. The rule never took effect as the wireless industry fought it in court and before an office in the White House that reviews regulations. Since then, the FCC has considered but not adopted similar requirements.
Harvey could refocus the agency. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is to visit Texas to inspect damage September 5. He said in a prepared statement Wednesday that the agency “will do everything it can to help restore communications services after this terrible storm”.
Further steps may be needed to ensure that storm victims can report emergencies in the future, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.
“As waters swell and Houston reels, this agency needs to get to work,” Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said in an email. She called for “a full plan for fixing the vulnerabilities we are finding — from overloaded 911 systems to out of service cell sites”.