The FCC is now
considering a proposed rulemaking thath would impose cell tower outage
reporting requirements on wireless carriers. The proposal is not yet public.
But according to TRDaily (July 26),
the FCC's proposal is similar to one made by Consumers Union. It would require
carriers to report to the FCC "non-functioning cell towers in each county,
and the percentage of the carrier’s cell towers in that county that the number
represents.” Apparently, the FCC would make the information public.
Both
the wireless
carrier and wireless
infrastructure industries have raised opposition to the FCC's proposed
rulemaking – or any proposed rulemaking, at this time – in ex parte filings
Again, the
precise content of the FCC's proposed rulemaking has yet to be unveiled. But on
a related note, my Perspectives from FSF
Scholars paper "The
FCC Should Keep Broadband Free From Analog-Era Outage Regulations,"
addressed concerns about a 2011 FCC proposed rulemaking to extend legacy
network outage reporting requirements to VoIP providers and broadband ISPs.
One of the
points I made in that paper was that regulations originating in the analog era
of legacy telephone service are often ill-suited to today's competitive and
multi-layered digital communications market. For instance:
Unlike circuit-switched systems that establish a dedicated transmission path between end users, broadband packet-switched systems use no specific path but instead use numerous paths across networks. As a result, packet-switching can avoid the effects of problems in one part of a network and allow end-users to communicate with little or no discernable disruption. Furthermore, broadband networks have built-in redundancies in infrastructure and equipment such as fiber rings and routers that automatically reroute information-storing data packets in the event of network disruption. Redundant cell towers and fiber backhaul paths to switching centers are also among the network reliability features employed by wireless broadband ISPs. Backup power supplies are also routinely used by broadband ISPs.
From a consumer
standpoint, imposing new regulatory requirements on wireless carriers or
infrastructure providers for equipment or other network outages offers no
benefit where consumers do not actually face any loss of service or significant
degradation of service. But such regulations would impose costs on carriers and
infrastructure providers, and those costs would likely be passed on to
consumers in the long run.
One other
concern I raised with the 2011 FCC proposed rulemaking on VoIP and broadband
ISP outage reporting was the lack of cost-benefit justification. It remains to
be seen if the FCC's proposed rulemaking regarding wireless outage reporting is
accompanied by any cost-benefit analysis.
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