§ 4.15   Submarine cable outage reporting.

   (a) Definitions. (1) For purposes of this section, “outage” is defined
   as a failure or significant degradation in the performance of a
   licensee's cable service regardless of whether the traffic can be
   re-routed to an alternate path.

   (2) An “outage” requires reporting under this section when there is:

   (i) An outage, including those caused by planned maintenance, of a
   portion of submarine cable system between submarine line terminal
   equipment (SLTE) at one end of the system and SLTE at another end of
   the system for more than 30 minutes; or

   (ii) The loss of any fiber pair, including losses due to terminal
   equipment, on a cable segment for four hours or more, regardless of the
   number of fiber pairs that comprise the total capacity of the cable
   segment.

   (b) Outage reporting. (1) For each outage that requires reporting under
   this section, the licensee (or Responsible Licensee as designated by a
   Consortium) shall provide the Commission with a Notification, Interim
   Report (subject to the limitations on planned outages in Section
   4.15(b)(2)(iii)), and a Final Outage Report.

   (i) For a submarine cable that is jointly owned and operated by
   multiple licensees, the licensees of that cable may designate a
   Responsible Licensee that files outage reports under this rule on
   behalf of all licensees on the affected cable.

   (ii) Licensees opting to designate a Responsible Licensee must jointly
   notify the Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau's
   Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division of this decision
   in writing. Such notification shall include the name of the submarine
   cable at issue; and contact information for all licensees on the
   submarine cable at issue, including the Responsible Licensee.

   (2) Notification, Interim, and Final Outage Reports shall be submitted
   by a person authorized by the licensee to submit such reports to the
   Commission.

   (i) The person submitting the Final Outage Report to the Commission
   shall also be authorized by the licensee to legally bind the provider
   to the truth, completeness, and accuracy of the information contained
   in the report. Each Final report shall be attested by the person
   submitting the report that he/she has read the report prior to
   submitting it and on oath deposes and states that the information
   contained therein is true, correct, and accurate to the best of his/her
   knowledge and belief and that the licensee on oath deposes and states
   that this information is true, complete, and accurate.

   (ii) The Notification is due within 480 minutes (8 hours) of the time
   of determining that an event is reportable for the first three years
   from the effective date of these rules. After three years from the
   effective date of the rules, Notifications shall be due within 240
   minutes (4 hours). The Notification shall be submitted in good faith.
   Licensees shall provide: The name of the reporting entity; the name of
   the cable and a list of all licensees for that cable; the date and time
   of onset of the outage, if known (for planned events, this is the
   estimated start time/date of the repair); a brief description of the
   event, including root cause if known; nearest cable landing station;
   best estimate of approximate location of the event, if known (expressed
   in either nautical miles and the direction from the nearest cable
   landing station or in latitude and longitude coordinates); best
   estimate of the duration of the event, if known; whether the event is
   planned or unplanned; and a contact name, contact email address, and
   contact telephone number by which the Commission's technical staff may
   contact the reporting entity.

   (iii) The Interim Report is due within 24 hours of receiving the Plan
   of Work. The Interim Report shall be submitted in good faith. Licensees
   shall provide: The name of the reporting entity; the name of the cable;
   a brief description of the event, including root cause, if known; the
   date and time of onset of the outage; nearest cable landing station;
   approximate location of the event (expressed in either nautical miles
   and the direction from the nearest cable landing station or in latitude
   and longitude); best estimate of when the cable is scheduled to be
   repaired, including approximate arrival time and date of the repair
   ship, if applicable; a contact name, contact email address, and contact
   telephone number by which the Commission's technical staff may contact
   the reporting entity. The Interim report is not required where the
   licensee has reported in the Notification that the outage at issue is a
   planned outage.

   (iv) The Final Outage Report is due seven (7) days after the repair is
   completed. The Final Outage Report shall be submitted in food faith.
   Licensees shall provide: The name of the reporting entity; the name of
   the cable; whether the outage was planned or unplanned; the date and
   time of onset of the outage (for planned events, this is the start date
   and time of the repair); a brief description of the event, including
   the root cause if known; nearest cable landing station; approximate
   location of the event (expressed either expressed in either nautical
   miles and the direction from the nearest cable landing station or in
   latitude and longitude coordinates); duration of the event, as defined
   in paragraph (a)(2) of this section; the restoration method; and a
   contact name, contact email address, and contact telephone number by
   which the Commission's technical staff may contact the reporting
   entity. If any required information is unknown at the time of
   submission of the Final Report but later becomes known, licensees
   should amend their report to reflect this knowledge. The Final Report
   must also contain an attestation as described in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of
   this section.

   (v) The Notification, Interim Report, and Final Outage Reports are to
   be submitted electronically to the Commission. “Submitted
   electronically” refers to submission of the information using
   Commission-approved Web-based outage report templates. If there are
   technical impediments to using the Web-based system during the
   Notification stage, then a written Notification to the Commission by
   email to the Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is
   permitted; such Notification shall contain the information required.
   Electronic filing shall be effectuated in accordance with procedures
   that are specified by the Commission by public notice.

   (c) Confidentiality. Reports filed under this part will be presumed to
   be confidential. Public access to reports filed under this part may be
   sought only pursuant to the procedures set forth in 47 CFR 0.461.
   Notice of any requests for inspection of outage reports will be
   provided pursuant to 47 CFR 0.461(d)(3).

   [ 81 FR 52363 , Aug. 8, 2016]

   Effective Date Note: At  81 FR 52363 , Aug. 8, 2016, § 4.15 was added.
   This section contains information collection and recordkeeping
   requirements and will not become effective until approval has been
   given by the Office of Management and Budget.

   return arrow Back to Top

   Need assistance?