WASHINGTON: The Federal Communications Commission issued the following public notice:

As of June 28, 2012 the Federal Communications Commission’s (Commission) Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) will accept disaster outage information on interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and broadband Internet services. DIRS is a voluntary, web-based system administered by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) that communications providers can use to report communications infrastructure status and situational awareness information during times of crisis. Information submitted in DIRS provides the Commission with an important level of awareness regarding the status of communications during and immediately after a disaster. The expansion of DIRS to interconnected VoIP and broadband Internet services recognizes that consumers, businesses, and government agencies increasingly rely on broadband and interconnected VoIP services for everyday and emergency communications needs, including 9-1-1 services.

Hurricane season 2012 began on June 1st. The Commission strongly encourages all carriers and providers of communications, including broadband services to submit and update information through DIRS at https://www.fcc.gov/nors/disaster/ or under e-filing on the Commission’s main webpage or PSHSB webpage. Providers that have not previously done so will be asked to first provide contact information and obtain a User ID when they access DIRS. This will facilitate the FCC’s efforts to assist communications providers in maintaining and restoring service during times of disaster.

For further information, please contact John Healy, Associate Division Chief, of the PSHSB’s Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division either at (202) 418-2448 or [email protected].

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