FCC Narrows DIRS to Louisiana, Texas, Waives Number Aging Rule
The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system for most of the 19 states in the area affected by storms Laura and Marco, said public notices through Monday. The system remains active for 35 counties in Louisiana and three in…
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Texas, said Monday’s PN. “The areas of greatest challenge remain in [Louisiana's] Lake Charles, Sulphur, Shreveport, and the coastal markets,” said Verizon. Monday’s DIRS report showed 5.2 percent of cellsites down in the affected area, and one Louisiana public service answering point rerouting 911 calls. Two TV stations and 18 FMs are out of service in the affected area, along with 188,985 cable and wireline subscribers. A Wireline Bureau order temporarily waived the agency’s phone number aging rule, to allow quick reassignment of numbers in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Arkansas. The waiver took effect immediately, and will expire May 28, the order said. It will also apply in other areas for which a state of emergency due to the storms is declared, the order said. “We also encourage all service providers in the areas affected by Hurricane Laura to waive call forwarding, message center, and voicemail service charges for affected customers.”