State orders telecoms to provide phone service backup during wildfire-related power outages
(Solano NewsNet file photo)
Telephone companies providing landline or Internet-based phone services in high wildfire risk areas will soon have to install batteries or other sources of backup power to ensure service is not immediately disrupted during power outages.
The mandate was issued by the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday following a unanimous vote of approval from the utility regulator’s board.
Last year, regulators began deliberating a requirement that phone companies provide backup sources of power after rural residents in fire-prone areas complained that planned safety outages and other incidents disrupted their landline and Internet-based phone service.
That’s a problem, regulators said, because rural residents are less likely to have access to reliable wireless phone service. They pointed to statistics that showed one 1 out of 5 calls to 9-1-1 are placed by people using landline phones.
“During disasters, when people are trying to escape from a threatened area or communicating with 9-1-1 centers, the communication link is critical for life-saving operation,” regulators said in a 107-page document released on Thursday and reviewed by Solano NewsNet.
Who is covered by the new mandate?
The new regulation imposed on Thursday only applies to phone companies that provide landline or Internet-based phone service in high wildfire risk areas as defined by state fire officials and the CPUC.
Portions of Solano County are covered by the high wildfire risk designation, including rural parts of Fairfield, Vacaville and Winters. Those areas are served primarily by AT&T, which provides copper-based landline phone service, and Internet phone service provider Comcast.
What do the new regulations require?
State regulators now require landline and Internet phone service providers in high wildfire-risk areas to maintain battery backup or some alternate form of backup power that will ensure they can continue to deliver service for at least 72 hours during a planned public safety power shutoff or actual emergency situation.
How do phone companies feel about this?
They weren’t crazy about the idea. A consortium of phone service providers said the mandate would be burdensome and expensive to implement. Regulators said they understood these concerns, but the potential safety risk of not having backup power outweighed those concerns.
Despite their concerns, most phone companies already have some kind of battery backup or alternative power source to meet the demand. Less than 10 percent of the landline and Internet phone service network doesn’t have alternate forms of power, the report said. Those networks, mostly operated by smaller companies, will now have to catch up.
How will phone companies be impacted?
In addition to providing backup power sources for their service, phone companies must create an emergency readiness plan detailing their strategy to deal with planned safety power shutoffs and actual emergencies in a way that re-assures regulators that phone service won’t be interrupted during those events.
How will residents be impacted?
Most city-dwelling and suburban residents won’t notice an immediate change because most landline and Internet phone providers who offer services to mid-sized and large communities already have resiliency strategies in place to thwart power outages. In other words, they’re already meeting the requirements put forth by the CPUC last week.
Rural residents have long been afflicted by a lack of phone service due to power outages, wildfires and other emergencies. If all goes according to plan, those problems should be a thing of the past. That’s important because data shows rural residents are more likely to have a landline phone or Internet-based phone service to supplement spotty wireless coverage in their areas. Regulators say that dependency is why phone companies need to do a better job providing backup sources of power and service during emergencies.
What about wireless phone service providers?
A similar measure was passed last year that requires wireless phone providers to install backup batteries or other alternative forms of power, with the same thought in mind that these services are crucial to residents, businesses and first responders during power outages and emergency situations. Wireless phone companies have until July to meet that requirement.
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