§ 4.17 Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative. ( a ) Facilities-based mobile wireless providers are required to perform, or have established, the following procedures when: ( 1 ) Any entity authorized to declare Emergency Support Function 2 (ESF-2) activates ESF-2 for a given emergency or disaster;
( 2 ) The Commission activates the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS); or
( 3 ) The Commission's Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issues a Public Notice activating the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative in response to a state request to do so, where the state has also either activated its Emergency Operations Center, activated mutual aid or proclaimed a local state of emergency: ( i ) Provide for reasonable roaming under disaster arrangements (RuDs) when technically feasible, where: ( A ) A requesting provider's network has become inoperable and the requesting provider has taken all appropriate steps to attempt to restore its own network; and
( B ) The provider receiving the request (home provider) has determined that roaming is technically feasible and will not adversely affect service to the home provider's own subscribers, provided that existing roaming arrangements and call processing methods do not already achieve these objectives and that any new arrangements are limited in duration and contingent on the requesting provider taking all possible steps to restore service on its own network as quickly as possible;
( ii ) Establish mutual aid arrangements with other facilities-based mobile wireless providers for providing aid upon request to those providers during emergencies, where such agreements address the sharing of physical assets and commit to engaging in necessary consultation where feasible during and after disasters, provided that the provider supplying the aid has reasonably first managed its own network needs;
( iii ) Take reasonable measures to enhance municipal preparedness and restoration;
( iv ) Take reasonable measures to increase consumer readiness and preparation; and
( v ) Take reasonable measures to improve public awareness and stakeholder communications on service and restoration status.
( b ) Providers subject to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section are required to perform annual testing of their roaming capabilities and related coordination processes, with such testing performed bilaterally with other providers that may foreseeably roam, or request roaming from, the provider during times of disaster or other exigency.
( c ) Providers subject to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section are required to submit reports to the Commission detailing the timing, duration, and effectiveness of their implementation of the Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative's provisions in this section within 60 days of when the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issues a Public Notice announcing such reports must be filed for providers operating in a certain geographic area in the aftermath of a disaster.
( d ) Providers subject to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section are required retain RuDs for a period of at least one year after their expiration and supply copies of such agreements to the Commission promptly upon Commission request.
( e ) Compliance with the provisions of this section is required beginning May 1, 2024.
[87 FR 59339, Sept. 30, 2022, as amended at 89 FR 20869, Mar. 26, 2024]