Panel Begins Independent Inquiry on Katrina, Rita

Martin, who briefly addressed the panel, said he’s not sure what its report will say. “I assume that they'll have a set of recommendations,” he told reporters. “There could be some things that they want the Commission to address. There could be some concerns they've got from a broader policy perspective that impacted them but might not be able to be completely under the FCC’s control.” Martin said the panel might focus partly on phone company repair crews’ need for better access after disasters, or power supply -- “things that we'll be able to have an impact on but we don’t control directly.”

A tight June 15 deadline on the report “is critical for us to take the next steps that will be necessary,” Martin said. At least one panelist said he wondered why the FCC inquiry didn’t start sooner. “It'’s difficult to say why we're starting in January,” said Clear Channel Senior Vp- Engineering Steve Davis: “I think people didn’t expect the recovery process to take so long. The late date will certainly push us to a quick resolution.”

BellSouth CTO Bill Smith voiced hope that the panel’s work would help industry make contingency plans in case disaster strikes. “We're very excited about the opportunity to work with this panel, because we think a lot of great things can come out of it,” Smith said. “I think the FCC can play a role. Can they do everything? Probably not… they certainly have a tremendous influence.”

Phone repair crews’ need for first responder status is still a priority, Smith said. “Folks have failed to realize at times how critical that infrastructure is,” he said. The panel also should look at the industry’s supply chain, which took heavy hits in 2005. “There were probably over 100,000 utility poles that were destroyed,” he said. “The entire national consumption is typically only 125,000.”

Public safety officials on the panel said Katrina showed flaws in emergency communications that need work. “All of us are on different systems and there’s no pre-planned structure, frequency plan or communications plan,” said Robert Bailey, telecom mgr. at the Harrison County Emergency Communications Commission in Gulfport, Miss. “When the federal agencies, when FEMA comes in or Homeland Security [Dept.], if we knew what their plan was ahead of time we could provide for that and be better prepared, rather than having to do a lot of interoperability work on the fly.”

“People plan for a disaster. Katrina was a catastrophe,” said Kevin Beary, sheriff of Orange County, Fla. In most disasters, wireless carriers haul in mobile infrastructure, he said, calling them a model for other services. “We also need public safety systems on wheels, bring in the whole system, towers, telephones, public communication radios,” he said. “It can’t be 7 days later. It needs to be immediate… And let’s get the licensing done prior to so we don’t have to go through that hassle.”

Robert Dawson, CEO of SouthernLINC, warned that company networks never will be so robust as to survive any disaster, no matter how much firms spend. Enhancements under discussion can come only at more cost to subscribers, he said: “A lot of what we're going to talk about is going to fly in the face of all the commercials we see on TV about ‘Free minutes, free phones, free this and free that.’ Wireless obviously has never been free.”

“Broadcasters want to be part of the first responder network,” said Clear Channel’s Davis, chmn. of the panel’s recovery coordination working group: “Merely the fact that we're participating in the panel might wake people up to the services we can provide to help,” Davis said. “Some people say broadcasters want their foot in the door for a scoop, but that’s not the case. We're capable of serving information to the maximum number of people possible.” Davis said he'll push the panel to recommend broadcasters be entitled to preferred cellular access and entry into devastated areas.

Restoring Cox’s network “took way too long,” said Greg Bicket, Cox vp & regional mgr.-Metarie, La.: “We needed instant day-after access to our network, and we found ourselves having to go to Washington to appeal to the powers that be to get those resources.” Some New Orleans area broadcasters “had to dummy up documents” to get engineers and reporters past checkpoints, Davis said. The National Guard won’t figure formally in the FCC panel inquiry because it falls outside FCC purview, Davis said: “But I'd like to see them participate. We'll work on that.” Bicket suggested a list of essential telecom providers might remedy the access problem.

The panel lacks a TV-specific broadcaster. Entercom Vp- Engineering Martin Hadfield also will represent radio. And while Clear Channel owns several TV stations, none is in the area hit by the hurricane, Davis said.

Copps called the panel’s work “as challenging an endeavor as the Commission has ever taken up.” Comrs. Copps, Adelstein and Tate, each traveling separately Mon., addressed the panel via video. Copps warned members they may be “targets of heavy lobbying,” urging them to “resist any pressures to sweep issues under the carpet.”

The panel’s chair, former NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory, said she expects to be lobbied. “We all get phone calls,” she told us: “A lot of folks are interested in this panel. We're hoping that they do express their views, which is why we've directed interested parties to file comments publicly.”

Copps said “a touchstone” by which to judge the panel’s success will be the extent to which average stakeholders in the Gulf Coast “are heard” in the process. “I urge you to reach out to them and to all those who are not sitting at our table this morning but whose viewpoints are important for your review and critical to their future,” Copps said. It’s “very important” public safety players provide “unfiltered views” on emergency communications, Martin said.

Victory stressed that the inquiry will “be very defined, extremely specific to the hurricanes.” The greater panel will meet next for 2 days in early March, probably at a site nearer the storm zone, she said. After that, the entire panel will meet in late April and then a final time in early June, with much of the detailed work being handled by 3 informal groups: (1) Infrastructure Resiliency. (2) Recovery Coordination Processes. (3) Emergency Communications. The groups, which met Mon., will convene again in late March or early April, Victory said.