More than 3 million people in the Gulf States lost phone service during the Katrina disaster, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was told during Thursday’s meeting (RealVideo). More than 1,000 wireless towers were knocked down, and more than 100 broadcast stations were knocked off the air.
Ken Moran, the FCC’s Director of Homeland Security, told Commissioners that over 100 temporary licenses and wavers were issued to establish microwave links and other radio services in the area. Many were authorized within 4 hours, Moran said. Wavers included one for Time Domain, for their RadarVision, UWB through the wall imaging, while Intel got a waver for 3.5 GHz WiMax.
The Federal Communication Commission discussed its plans at a special open meeting at a BellSouth Emergency Control Center in Atlanta, Ga. (RealVideo), and warned that the nation’s communications infrastructure remains critically vulnerable to disasters and attacks.
The FCC pledged on Thursday to examine communications infrastructure breakdowns that hampered emergency response and rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, saying it would aid victims of the crisis.
“When you watch search-and-rescue teams from Virginia, and law enforcement officials from Florida, and EMS medics from California, and countless others making their way to the Gulf Coast to help, don’t we owe them a system that enables them to communicate once they get there?”, asked FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.
“Last year, the 9-11 Commission Report described a state of communications unreadiness that seriously hindered our country’s ability to respond to that attack,” said Copps. “It also described a chilling picture of communications unreadiness three years later. And Hurricane Katrina has shown us we still have far to go. Now people are talking again about the need for full-scale emergency planning. This time, we dare not fail.”
The restoration of services is ongoing, said BellSouth executive Rod Odom, in an impressive overview of the Katrina situation. Tens of thousands of phones lines and dozens of central offices are still out of service, he said. Diane Newman, operations director of WWL, brought tears to the 2 hour, 40 minute hearing.
While Thursday s list of presenters included representatives from the wireline, wireless, satellite, radio and television industries, there were no representatives from the IP-based communications industry, even though services like Vonage s VoIP proved instrumental in helping people communicate during the initial aftermath, which ticked off Jeff Pulver.
The FCC also proposed on Thursday a $211 million fund to help consumers, schools, libraries and hospitals struck by the hurricane. As part of the package, the agency said it would provide wireless phones and a package of 300 free minutes for evacuees and people still without phone service.
Live Senate Hearings on Katrina Telecommunications are scheduled for next week.
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