WASHINGTON-The wireless industry averted a potential public-relations disaster, assuring government leaders that wireless services for Hurricane Katrina evacuees would not be cut off for lack of payment.
Members of Congress, including Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), whose district includes Houston, where many evacuees are staying, began hearing reports that customers were having their mobile phones disconnected. Green initiated a letter signed by eight of his colleagues, including Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas), requesting that service to evacuees remain connected.
“Wireless communications are very important for the effective response to Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, there have been reports of wireless customers from the disaster areas being disconnected during this desperate time because they were unable to pay the bills,” said a letter from the congressmen sent to CTIA and the Federal Communications Commission. “At the request of emergency personnel on the ground, we are urging CTIA to encourage all member companies to take all necessary steps to extend grace periods for disaster-area customers’ wireless accounts.”
CTIA said there was no reason to worry.
“I personally spoke to top executives of each of the major wireless carriers, and they have pledged that no subscriber’s service in the region will be disconnected during this catastrophe for not paying their bills,” said CTIA President Steve Largent. “Carriers are implementing customer-friendly billing practices for affected customers and will not disconnect services to customers from the impacted areas for nonpayment of bills.”
Just to make sure, the FCC ordered all carriers to submit reports verifying their compliance with the standard industry practice of maintaining service to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina despite failure to pay bills. “Reports should describe the grace period or other relief licensees are providing for this issue,” said the FCC.
All of the carriers certified to the FCC that they will not cut off service for nonpayment and that they have temporarily ceased collection activities in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, the FCC has been working overtime dealing with telephone numbers and special temporary authority for spectrum licenses to assist in the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
The commission was open over the Labor Day weekend and was expected to be open last weekend to handle emergency requests.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Michael Copps visited the impacted area on Thursday.
“We are encouraged that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, carriers are working day and night to speed the restoration of service in Gulf State communities. We salute the Herculean efforts of their employees-many of whom have experienced terrible personal loss and property damage in this tragic storm. We are committed to doing everything within our power to aid these extraordinary recovery efforts. In the days ahead, the challenge will be facilitating service restoration. But in the long term, we will need to learn from this event and work together to improve the reliability, survivability and security of our nation’s telecommunications networks,” said Martin and Copps in a statement.
The FCC’s open meeting scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 15, is expected to be devoted to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the communications infrastructure.
The action was not limited to the FCC; policy-makers were summoned to Capitol Hill to appear at a hearing of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. Initially announced as a hearing on the impact on the energy sector of Hurricane Katrina, the committee also heard about the status of the communications infrastructure.
“Most of the communications industry sustained tremendous damage to their facilities in the affected area, and the damage has had a significant impact. The damage to the communications infrastructure hampered the rescue operations of emergency responders,” Kenneth Moran, director of the FCC’s Office of Homeland Security, told the committee.
Back at the FCC, the agency took several actions, including:
- Working with various wireless Internet service providers to deploy WiMAX technology in the impacted area;
- Telling carriers to keep residential phone numbers for customers who disconnect their service because they are relocated from the impacted areas for longer than the usual 90 days. The waiver of the FCC rules is in place until June, but carriers can request extensions if necessary;
- Allowing carriers to port telephone numbers outside of the impacted areas. This allows customers who may want to keep their phone numbers but are no longer in the proper areas for the phone numbers to do so;
- Waiving certain slamming rules making it easier for customers to switch providers, but said it expected the acquiring provider to quickly switch the customer back to their original carrier upon request. RCR
