Staff Reports
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Friday to establish safeguards against wireless communications breakdowns like the one that followed Hurricane Michael.
“After more than a week of wireless service failures in Hurricane Michael’s hardest hit areas, I urge you to recommend industry-wide measures that would help prevent downed telecommunications for extended periods of time,” Patronis wrote.
“FCC recommendations on best practices to preposition equipment so companies are prepared to come in and make repairs quickly after a hurricane passes, for example, could ultimately save lives by getting communications back up to aid first responder search and rescue operations,” he continued.
“Additionally, FCC action to set industry-wide standards for carriers to open their roaming agreements after a disaster is declared would help expedite response efforts and make it easier for residents to call for help.”
Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson are among the state leaders who have complained about wireless failures that have rendered thousands of Panhandle residents unable to reassure loved ones outside the disaster zone that they survived — or to learn details about relief efforts.
Pai, himself, has denounced the carriers’ performance as “completely unacceptable.”
Patronis, a former member of the Florida Public Service Commission, reminded Pai that the number of wireline customers has declined by 17 percent since last year.
“We have quickly become a wireless-only society, so it’s incredibly important that carriers get disaster preparedness and resiliency right,” he wrote.
Read the complete letter here.
