WASHINGTON-In response to the massive power outage Aug. 14, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission Aug. 24 urging the agency to set standards for backup power systems.
“Cell phones failed us on Sept. 11, they failed last week, and unless we make changes soon they’ll fail us again next time,” said Schumer in a press conference in New York. “Over the years, traditional telephone land lines and most other utilities have developed so-called redundancies-if one power system fails, there is a backup to keep people safe. The wireless industry just isn’t there yet, and it needs to catch up quick.”
A major reason that the mobile-phone networks fail in times of crisis is that they are engineered to assume that only 25 percent of their customers will be using the networks at any given time, said Schumer. As part of proposed rule changes, Schumer would like the FCC to increase mobile-phone network capacity.
“While certain delays are to be expected when cell-phone usage suddenly triples or quadruples, cellular networks should be able to handle more than 25 percent of their customers making a call at any one time,” said Schumer. “If they cannot, the FCC should establish strict and specific requirements that increase network capacity.”
Schumer’s request seems to run counter to the FCC’s original plan of handing the problem over to the FCC’s Network Reliability and Interoperability Council. NRIC is a federal advisory committee made up of telecommunications executives that studies reasons why and ways to prevent outages. It does not have the power to impose regulations but can suggest rule changes that the FCC must then put out for comment.
“The cell-phone system could not handle the increased number of calls, and cell-phone towers and transmitters lost power because their battery backups only lasted from two to six hours,” said Schumer in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, as reported by the Associated Press.
Schumer’s office has not made the letter to the FCC widely available but in a statement, Schumer set out policy changes he would like to see implemented.
The FCC should require wireless carriers to have more portable generators and a reserve stock of charged backup batteries, said Schumer. “With extra batteries, technicians could quickly switch empty cell tower batteries with full ones and bring the empties to a central charging site where hundreds of them could be recharged on a single generator,” he added.
In addition, Schumer believes that all mobile-phone carriers should be required to offer wireless priority access service to public-safety employees.
The wireless industry resisted a WPS mandate until after Sept. 11 when it said it was too expensive unless the government helped. The first phase of available funds went to T-Mobile USA Inc. After that, Congress cut the money for the program, so it has stalled.
“As Sen. Schumer indicates, Wireless Priority Service (WPS) is an important tool for designated national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) users in times of emergency or natural disaster,” said T-Mobile. “Congress took a positive step when it restored funding for Wireless Priority Service, and we, along with others, look to Congress to continue to support its development and implementation. As federal, state and local awareness of wireless priority service increases, we expect to see a growing number of designated users.”
