Commissioner Clyburn Statement on the PSHSB Derecho Report

NEWS
Federal Communications Commission

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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
January 10, 2013
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Louis.Peraertz@fcc.gov [5]

STATEMENT BY FCC COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN

ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU REPORT

“IMPACT OF THE JUNE 2012 DERECHO ON COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

AND SERVICES”

“As the first section of the Communications Act makes clear, one of the critical missions of the
Commission is to promote the safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio
communications. As we know, 9-1-1 services are lifelines for citizens in times of personal
emergencies and large scale natural disasters. When the Derecho struck the Midwest and Mid-
Atlantic states in June of 2012, it left millions unable to contact 9-1-1 for varying periods of time
due to carrier network problems. This is unacceptable and we must do all in our power to
promote network reliability. A necessary first step is a thorough examination of 9-1-1 service
outages. I commend David Turetsky and his staff in the Public Safety and Homeland Security
Bureau for working diligently over the past six months, to compile an extensive record on the
severe outages during the Derecho and for presenting recommendations to improve public safety
communications.
“Today’s Report also appropriately explains, however, that communications network reliability
issues were raised again by another devastating weather event -- Superstorm Sandy. We must
thoroughly analyze and address these pressing issues during the field hearings Chairman
Genachowski announced about that event.”

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