Today’s Regulatory Mix: California Adopts Interim Rate Relief for Incarcerated Person Calling Services, Disaster Information Reporting System Extended to Cover Hurricane Nicholas, FCC Announces CSRIC VIII Members & Sept. 22 Meeting
California Adopts Interim Rate Relief for Incarcerated Person Calling Services
The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has adopted an Order on Interim Rate Relief for Incarcerated Persons Calling Services (IPCS). The Order applies to all providers of intrastate IPCS voice services, including services provided via VoIP technologies.
Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 9/7/21
Disaster Information Reporting System Extended to Cover Hurricane Nicholas
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) of the FCC in coordination with Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, originally activated the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) in response to Hurricane Ida in portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. DIRS has now been extended to cover portions of Texas and Louisiana to track the impact to communications from Hurricane Nicholas. This action will augment the ongoing DIRS activation for counties in Louisiana due to Hurricane Ida, many of which may be affected by both storms
DIRS is a voluntary, web-based system that communications providers, including wireless, wireline, broadcast, cable and Voice over Internet Protocol providers, and satellite providers can use to report communications infrastructure status and situational awareness information during times of crisis. Communications providers that requested to provide service to any areas listed below and expeditiously submit and update information through DIRS ( https://www.fcc.gov/nors/disaster/) regarding the status of their communications equipment, restoration efforts, and power. Providers that have not previously done so will be asked to first provide contact information and obtain a User ID when they access DIRS.
Providers that participate in DIRS, the separate Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) obligations are suspended for the duration of the DIRS activation with respect to outages in the counties where DIRS has been activated. Reports are requested on Hurricanes Ida and Nicholas by 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, and every day after that by 10:00 a.m. until DIRS is deactivated.
COUNTIES OF INTEREST FOR THIS ACTIVATION INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
Louisiana: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Calasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson- Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermillion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.
Texas: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Orange, and Wharton.
FCC Announces CSRIC VIII Members & Sept. 22 Meeting
FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the appointment of members to the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council. The recently reestablished CSRIC will focus primarily on improving 5G network security and hold its first public meeting on September 22.
“The FCC’s CSRIC is one of the nation’s most impactful cybersecurity partnerships,” said FCC Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “But in recent years this public-private collaboration has faced criticism that its membership gave private companies an outsized voice. Today, we take steps to right that ship.”
The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.
