Cellular Network Outage Reporting and Restoration During Disasters

Communications during disasters are critical for first responders, public officials, and individuals. Should cellular network outages occur during or after a disaster, knowledge of where the outages have occurred and when communications have been restored may aid response. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has created two systems for cellular network outage reporting: the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) for everyday outages and the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) for outages during disasters. The FCC has also adopted a framework for network restoration: the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative (MDRI), which requires providers to coordinate during large-scale or particularly severe disasters. Whereas NORS and DIRS are both reporting systems, the MDRI is a framework that enables information sharing and cooperation among communications providers during cellular network outages. The FCC created NORS, DIRS, and the MDRI through rulemakings. The FCC created NORS following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, requiring most providers to report any cellular network outage that lasts 30 minutes or longer. The FCC established DIRS in 2007 in response to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on communications networks. DIRS enables the FCC to aggregate and provide anonymized data on the status of communications infrastructure and service degradation during disasters to federal emergency management officials and the public. In 2022, the FCC codified the voluntary Wireless Network Resiliency Cooperative Framework, established by wireless providers, as the MDRI to promote mutual aid, roaming agreements, and cooperation during the network restoration process. The FCC has activated these mechanisms to help coordinate disaster and incident management during emergencies like floods, hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms, and super typhoons that have damaged communications networks and caused cellular network outages. The FCC has used DIRS to provide daily information to the public on large-scale outages and restoration during major disasters and activated the MDRI to enforce collaboration between providers during network restoration efforts. Providers must submit outage reporting information to NORS, regardless of the scale of the disaster, for outages that last for a specified duration. The FCC has periodically initiated rulemakings to seek public input on NORS, DIRS, and the MDRI and has adopted rules to improve cellular network outage reporting (e.g., making previously confidential information available to public safety officials, expanding reporting requirements for other communication providers, and streamlining its reporting requirements to avoid duplication). Some Members of Congress have expressed interest in improving information sharing and enabling access to communications networks for their constituents during disasters. In previous Congresses, proposed legislation would have (1) required the FCC to release a preliminary report after DIRS activation relaying the number and duration of outages to broadband internet, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), commercial mobile service, and commercial mobile data service providers and (2) directed the FCC to improve cellular network outage reporting. None of this legislation was enacted. Similar legislation, such as the Enhancing First Response Act, S. 725, and the Emergency Reporting Act, H.R. 5200, has been introduced in the 119th Congress. Congress could codify the FCC’s rules surrounding NORS, DIRS, and the MDRI into law, which would allow Congress to set the terms of activation and continued reporting on communication outages during disasters. Alternately, Congress could allow the FCC to continue to oversee the reporting and restoration of outages, and to initiate periodic rulemakings to continue to improve the programs, without requiring a change in legislation. Congress could also hold hearings on communication outages or require periodic reporting from the FCC.