FCC Amends Certain Aspects of Submarine Cable Outage Reporting Requirements
By Womble Bond Dickinson, Lexology
December 30, 2019
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC or Commission) has issued an Order on Reconsideration (Order) that reexamined and amended certain aspects of the submarine cable outage reporting requirements, outlined in the Submarine Cable Outage Reporting Order. The Commission took action in response to separate petitions made by the North American Submarine Cable Association (NASCA) and the Submarine Cable Coalition (SCC) who requested that the Order minimize costs and administrative burdens in reporting outages. Specifically, the Order narrows the scope of reportable outages to reduce the potential for reporting mundane events and to ease reporting obligations on affected entities for outages involving planned maintenance that is announced to customers.