Network Outage

Reporting System

User Manual

Version 3

Effective October 28, 2021
NORS USER MANUAL 2

VersionHistory

Version No. Author Revision

Date Reason

1.0 Calvin Gerard 3/6/17 Initial Issue

2.0 Tom Kelley 4/21/17 Updated content and figures

3.0 Jerome 

Stanshine

10/28/21 Updated content and figures, incorporated undersea
NORS USER MANUAL 3

Contents

VersionHistory ........................................................................................................................................... 2

1. Introduction and Overview of the NORS Application ................................................................. 6

2. Roles and Privileges ................................................................................................................... 8

3. AccessingNORS for Submarine Cable and Non-Submarine Cable Users .................................. 10

3.1 Locating NORS .....................................................................................................................................10

3.2 Logging In.............................................................................................................................................11

3.2.1 Reset Password ........................................................................................................................ 13

3.2.2 New Users................................................................................................................................ 15

3.2.3 Assign Yourself to a Company or Reporting Entity..................................................................... 16

3.3 Updating Profile...................................................................................................................................19

3.4 Logging Out..........................................................................................................................................19

4. Reporting anOutage Other than a Submarine Cable Outage................................................... 20

4.1 Report Notification..............................................................................................................................20

4.2 Submit Initial Report............................................................................................................................22

4.3 Update Report (to Initial, Final, or Withdrawn)..................................................................................23

4.4 Request to Reopen an Outage Report................................................................................................26

4.5 Create a File of NORS Reports.............................................................................................................28

4.6 Obtain a List of Overdue Outage Reports...........................................................................................29

5. Reporting a Submarine Cable Outage ...................................................................................... 30

5.1 Report Submarine Cable Outage Notification....................................................................................30

5.2 Submit Submarine Cable Interim Report............................................................................................32

5.3 Update Submarine Cable Report (Interim, Final, or Withdrawn) ......................................................33

5.4 Request to Reopen a Submarine Cable Outage Report.....................................................................36

5.5 Create a File of Submarine Cable NORS Reports................................................................................38

5.6 Obtain List of Overdue Submarine Cable Outage Reports.................................................................39

6. Fields on the Notification Form for an Outage Other than a Submarine Cable Outage ........... 40

7. Fields on the Initial and Final Report Forms for Outages Other than Submarine Cable 

 Outages ................................................................................................................................... 44

8. Fields on the Notification Form for a Submarine Cable Outage............................................... 52

9. Fields on the Interim and Final Report Forms for Submarine Cable Outages........................... 53

10. Fields on the Withdraw Report Dialog Box.............................................................................. 56

11. Descriptions of Root Cause, Direct Cause and Contributing Factors for Outages Other than 

 Submarine Cable Outages........................................................................................................ 56

List of Tables

Table 1. Inputter Administrative Privileges.................................................................................................. 9

Table 2. Coordinator Administrative Privileges............................................................................................ 9

Table 3. DHS User Administrative Privileges ................................................................................................ 9
NORS USER MANUAL 4

List of Figures

Figure 1. NORS options............................................................................................................................... 6

Figure 2. NORS Records/Actions Options.................................................................................................... 7

Figure 3. NORS Submarine Cable Reports/Actions Options ......................................................................... 7

Figure 4. NORS API/XML Options................................................................................................................. 8

Figure 5. NORS Overdue Reports Options................................................................................................... 8

Figure 6. FCC Homepage ........................................................................................................................... 10

Figure 7. FCC Homepage > Licensing & Database Menu > NORS ................................................................ 11

Figure 8. FCC NORS page ........................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 9. FCC User Sign-in Screen .............................................................................................................. 12

Figure 10. FCC Log-in Screen...................................................................................................................... 13

Figure 11. FCC Log-in Screen for Persons Needing Help Logging in............................................................. 14

Figure 12. Reset Password......................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 13. Request New User Account....................................................................................................... 16

Figure 14. Assign Yourself to a Company/Reporting Entity......................................................................... 17

Figure 15. Register with an Existing Company/Recording Entity, “Yes” ...................................................... 17

Figure 16. Confirm Company Details, Existing Company/Reporting Entity.................................................. 18

Figure 17. Alert Message: Added as Inputter to an Existing Company or Reporting Entity.......................... 18

Figure 18. Create a New Company or Reporting Entity .............................................................................. 18

Figure 19. Confirm Company Details, New Company ................................................................................. 19

Figure 20. Alert Message: Added as Inputter to a New Company/Reporting Entity .................................... 19

Figure 21. Changing Profile/Logging Out.................................................................................................... 19

Figure 22. Report Notification ................................................................................................................... 20

Figure 23. NORS Outage Notification Report Page Tabs............................................................................. 21

Figure 24. Submission of Notification Report Confirmation ....................................................................... 21

Figure 25. NORS Outages........................................................................................................................... 22

Figure 26. Notification List View ................................................................................................................ 22

Figure 27. Submit Initial Report or Withdraw Report................................................................................. 23

Figure 28. Update, Finalize, or Withdraw Report ....................................................................................... 24

Figure 29. Submission of Initial Report Confirmation................................................................................. 24

Figure 30. Submission of Final Report Confirmation .................................................................................. 25

Figure 31. Withdraw Report Screen........................................................................................................... 25

Figure 32. NORS Outages........................................................................................................................... 26

Figure 33. Outage History List.................................................................................................................... 26

Figure 34. Reopen Report.......................................................................................................................... 27

Figure 35. Request to Reopen Report........................................................................................................ 27

Figure 36. Request to Reopen Acknowledgment ....................................................................................... 27

Figure 37. NORS Outage Reports............................................................................................................... 28

Figure 38. NORS Outage Report Criteria .................................................................................................... 28

Figure 39. NORS Outage Report Formats................................................................................................... 29

Figure 40.NORS Overdue Reports.............................................................................................................. 29

Figure 41. NORS Reports ........................................................................................................................... 30

Figure 42. Submarine Cable Report Notification ........................................................................................ 30

Figure 43. NORS Submarine Cable Outage Notification Report Page Tabs.................................................. 31

Figure 44. Submission of Notification Report Confirmation ....................................................................... 31

Figure 45. NORS Outages........................................................................................................................... 32

Figure 46. Submarine Cable Outage List View............................................................................................ 32

Figure 47. Submit Interim Report or Withdraw Report .............................................................................. 33

Figure 48. Submit Interim or Final Report or Withdraw Report.................................................................. 34
NORS USER MANUAL 5

Figure 49. Submission of Interim Report Confirmation .............................................................................. 34

Figure 50. Submission of Final Report Confirmation .................................................................................. 35

Figure 51. Withdraw Report Screen........................................................................................................... 35

Figure 52. NORS Outages........................................................................................................................... 36

Figure 53. Submarine Cable Outage History List......................................................................................... 36

Figure 54. Reopen Report.......................................................................................................................... 37

Figure 55. Request to Reopen Report........................................................................................................ 37

Figure 56. Request to Reopen Acknowledgment ....................................................................................... 37

Figure 57. Submarine Cable NORS Outage Reports.................................................................................... 38

Figure 58. NORS Outage Report Criteria .................................................................................................... 38

Figure 59. NORS Outage Report Formats................................................................................................... 39

Figure 60. NORS Reports ........................................................................................................................... 39
NORS USER MANUAL 6

1. Introduction and Overview of the NORS Application

The FCC Network Outage Reporting System (NORS), designed in the ServiceNow platform – a cloud,

workflow-based application, gives users the capability to report telecommunications outages directly to

the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).

Through NORS, users can submit notifications and reports, update reports, and complete administrative

actions. Users perform these core activities through the modules in the navigator on the left side of the 

ServiceNow content pane (Figure 1).

Figure 1. NORS options

As shown, the main groups of options for NORS filers are:

• NORS Records/Actions

• NORS Submarine Cable Records/Actions

• NORS API/XML

• NORS Overdue Reports

Each group of options in turn expands when a filer clicks on the triangle at the left of the group name. 

Figure 2 shows the NORS Records/Actions options. The NORS Records/Actions features primarily 

support the filing of reports on outages other than submarine cable outages, although there are some 

features to support submarine cable outages as well. The features available through the NORS 

Records/Actions include:

• Assign Yourself to a Company/Reporting Entity (including submarine cable reporting entities)

• Report Notification (of an outage other than a submarine cable outage)

• NORS Outages (other than submarine cable outages)

• NORS Outage History (of outages other than submarine cable outages)
7

Figure 2. NORS Records/Actions Options

1

Figure 3 shows the NORS Submarine Cable Records/Actions options. The features in this group support the 

filing of submarine cable outage reports. The features available through the NORS Submarine Cable 

Records/Actions include:

• Report SC Notification

• SC NORS Outages

• SC NORS Outage History

• Overdue SC Interim Reports

• Overdue SC Final Reports

• SC Final Reports Due in 5 Days

Figure 3. NORS Submarine Cable Reports/Actions Options

1 The “NORS Compnies/Reporting Entities” link appears in the coordinator’s screen but not the inputter’s screen.

NORS USER MANUAL
NORS USER MANUAL 8

NORS also has features to facilitate the exchange of outage data through Application Program Interfaces

(API) and Extensible Markup Language (XML), accessible in the NORS navigator (Figure 4).

• Simple Object Access Protocol - SOAP API

• Representational State Transfer - REST API

• XML Upload

Figure 4. NORS API/XML Options

Finally, the NORS Overdue Reports group includes options to list various kinds of 

overdue or nearly overdue reports on non-submarine cable outages, as shown in 

Figure 5:

Figure 5. NORS Overdue Reports Options

Available options in this group can be used to generate lists of overdue or nearly 

overdue reports on outages other than submarine cable outages:

• Overdue Initial Reports

• Overdue Final Reports

• Final Reports Due in 5 Days

2. Roles and Privileges

NORS user roles are defined for inputters, coordinators, and Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) users. Privileges are applied to each role (see Tables 1, 2, and 3).
NORS USER MANUAL 9

Table 1. Inputter Administrative Privileges

Inputter

Records • View and update outage reports user submitted.

• View and update user profile.

Reports

• Search and view a collection of outage reports user submitted.

• View a collection of outage reports user submitted that are overdue or close

to deadline.

Actions • Self-assignment of user to a company or reporting entity.

• Report notifications.

• Receive e-mail confirmation of all reports submitted by user.

Table 2. Coordinator Administrative Privileges

Coordinator

Records

• View and update outage reports submitted by any member of user’s

company or reporting entity.

• View and update user profiles of coordinator’s assigned company or reporting

entity.

• View and edit details of any company or reporting entity for which user is a

coordinator.

Reports

• Search and view outage reports submitted by any member of the user’s

company or reporting entity.

• View overdue outage reports submitted by any member of the user’s

company or reporting entity which are overdue or due within five days

updating.

Actions

• Assign new users to company or reporting entity.

1

• Report notifications.

• Receive e-mail confirmation of all submitted reports for user’s company or

reporting entity

•

• reporreporting entity.

Table 3. DHS User Administrative Privileges

DHS User

Records • View all outage reports.

• View and update user profile.

Reports • Search for and view any collection of outage reports.

1

Some interaction with FCC staff isrequired to do this.
NORS USER MANUAL 10

3. Accessing NORS for Submarine Cable and Non-Submarine Cable

Users

3.1 Locating NORS

To locate the NORS application,

Either go directly to the NORS login screen (Figure 10) by inserting the following URL into a browser:

https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fcc-user-login?fromURI=https%3A%2F%2Ffccext.okta.com%2Fapp%2Fservicenow_ud%2Fexkfhf7wsY5PvdJv4296%2Fsso%2Fsaml%3FSAMLReq

uest%3DnVPvb9owEP1XIn8nv0gptQApC5rG1HURsEnbl8mxL8VqYmc%252BJ9D%252Ffk6ghUkrmv

ot8r27e%252B%252FdywxZXcUNTVu7U2v43QJa71BXCumxMietUVQzlEgVqwGp5XSTfrmnsR%252

FSxmirua6IlyKCsVKrTCtsazAbMJ3k8G19Pyc7axukQVBy7jqEj8ea0vvTF%252Fpc14FiXcMewReaeEtH

RCrWT%252FyrfwQH6%252Bsny4YO1jTBedivVgRweCp35e0ef9zknfjcJfHdJEDUQS%252BHeB%252

B14TCInZOSVQjEWy3nZPOQxWERJXcw5vwGkqkYx1GRFFMuCj4tpslk4oCYM0TZwbkVsYWVQsuUn

ZM4jKNRGI%252BicBvHNIpoOPbH09ufxMtPNn2QSkj1eN3T4ghC%252Bmm7zUf51812GNBJAebBo

d9l53cwOFjpNpDFbLgtHeiby3NfZ8ZebkwW%252F0dhFlwuOq1taK9itcx1Jfmzl1aV3mcGmHXKrGlh

OFLN7NtcIj8aXqQYlQOUQs1klQphAJEEr4tOgQYxXNwl07r0eJmuG2Yk9nbAgXH7asglLKuc3DWU77L

nKoxT3s92z32e9tqIPh%252FAHc%252BtYQobbeyLc%252F9itDgV39B3Ll%252F%252B1Is%252F%2

6RelayState%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Ffccprod.servicenowservices.com%252Fnavpage.do

OR

1. Go to the FCC homepage (https://www.fcc.gov/).

2. Click on the Browse by Category menu located at the top of the page (Figure 6,

red rectangle). Note: This menu allows users to view six separate drop down

menus.

Figure 6. FCC Homepage

3. Click on the Licensing & Database tab (Figure 7, red rectangle).

4. Click on the NORS link (Figure 7, red arrow).
NORS USER MANUAL 11

Figure 7. FCC Homepage > Licensing & Database Menu > NORS

3.2 Logging In

Selecting the FCC NORS link connects the user to the FCC NORS page, shown in Figure 8 (shown below and 

continuing onto the next page):

Network Outage Reporting System (NORS)

In 2004, the FCC established outage reporting rules to address the critical need for rapid, complete, and 

accurate information on significant communications service disruptions that could affect homeland security, 

public health or safety, and the economic well-being of the nation.

Under this framework, qualifying communication providers (wireline, cable, satellite, wireless, interconnected 

VoIP and Signaling System 7 providers) are required to report network outages that last at least 30 minutes and 

satisfy other specific thresholds in the Commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS). Data 

submitted to NORS is presumed confidential.

After determining that an outage is reportable, wireline, cable, satellite, wireless and Signaling System 7 

providers must submit a NORS notification within 120 minutes with preliminary information. The service 

provider must submit an initial outage report within three calendar days, followed by a final report no later 

than 30 days after discovering the outage.

Interconnected VoIP providers must submit a NORS notification either: 1) within 240 minutes after discovering 

an outage that potentially affects a 911 facility or 2) within 24 hours of discovering an outage which affects 

potentially 900,000 user minutes and results in a complete loss of service or potentially affects any special 

offices and facilities. They must also file a final report within 30 days of discovering the outage.

Covered 911 service providers, or providers that aggregate 911 traffic from an originating service provider and 

deliver it to a 911 call center, must notify the designated official at the 911 call center as soon as possible but 

no later than 30 minutes after discovering an outage that affects a 911 call center. The covered 911 service 

provider shall convey all available information as well as a name, telephone number, and email address at 
NORS USER MANUAL 12

which the service provider can be reached for follow-up. The covered 911 service provider must also 

communicate additional material information to the affected 911 call center as it becomes available, but no 

later than two hours after the initial contact.

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau’s Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division (CCR) 

routinely analyzes NORS data to assess the magnitude of major outages, identify trends, and promote network 

reliability best practices that can prevent or mitigate future disruptions. This analysis also informs the agency’s 

outage investigations and recommendations for improving network reliability.

NORS Login: https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fcc-user-login

NORS New User Registration: https://apps2.fcc.gov/fccUserReg/pages/createAccount.htm

NORS Password Reset: https://apps2.fcc.gov/fccUserReg/pages/reset-passwd-identify.htm

NORS Profile Update: https://apps2.fcc.gov/fccUserReg/pages/login.htm

Figure 8. FCC NORS page

Click on the “NORS Login” link, marked by a red arrow in Figure 8 above. The FCC User Sign-in 

screen, shown in Figure 9, will become available.

Figure 9. FCC User Sign-in Screen

Click on the NORS icon as shown. The login screen will appear (Figure 10):
NORS USER MANUAL 13

Figure 10. FCC Log-in Screen

3.2.1 Reset Password

If you have forgotten your password, wish to change your password for security reasons, or 

otherwise wish to change your password, click on “Need help signing in?” in the lower left corner of 

the Log-in screen. The Log-in screen then morphs into the following:
NORS USER MANUAL 14

Figure 11. FCC Log-in Screen for Persons Needing Help Logging in

To change passwords, click on “Forgot password?” (Figure 11, red arrow) This will take you to the

Reset Password screen (Figure 12):
NORS USER MANUAL 15

Figure 12. Reset Password

Enter the email address associated with your NORS account and press the “Continue” button. Then follow

the instructions on the screen.

3.2.2 New Users

An inputter account must be created prior to logging into NORS. 

1. Go In the “Login Screen for Persons Needing Help Logging In” (Figure 11), click on “Create 

Account”. The Create New Account screen (shown in Figure 13) should appear.

2. Enter all required information and select Create Account at bottom ofscreen (not shown in

Figure 13).

Note: If a coordinator account Is desired, send a request to the NORS administrators:

FCC-Outage@fcc.gov.
NORS USER MANUAL 16

Figure 13. Request New User Account

3.2.3 Assign Yourself to a Company or Reporting Entity

A person must have an association with a company or reporting entity to file an outage report.

Employees can gain access to their company’s or reporting entity’s database by doing the

following:

1. Click the NORS Records/Actions tab in the NORS navigator.

2. Click on Assign Yourself to a Company/Reporting Entity link (Figure 14, red arrow).
NORS USER MANUAL 17

Figure 14. Assign Yourself to a Company/Reporting Entity

3. If the company is registered with NORS, click on Yes, choose from a list (Figure 15, red

arrow) under the question Register with an Existing Company/Reporting Entity? [If you 

are registering a new company, skip to number 7 below.]

4. Enter the Company or Reporting Entity name and the Company or Reporting Entity Security Code

(Figure 15, starred, mandatory fields) and click on Submit. If you do not know the security code, 

contact your company or reporting entity NORS coordinator.

Figure 15. Register with an Existing Company/Recording Entity, “Yes”

5. After the company/reporting entity and security code information are submitted, a dialogue

box, “Confirm Company/Reporting Entity Details” with the question, “Are you sure you want to

join this company?” will appear. If the company/reporting entity details are correct and you

want to proceed with the association, select Yes. Figure 16).
NORS USER MANUAL 18

Figure 16. Confirm Company Details, Existing Company/Reporting Entity

6. After selecting Yes, the following type of screen alert is displayed (Figure 17).

Figure 17. Alert Message: Added as Inputter to an Existing Company or Reporting Entity

This completes the process of adding yourself to an existing company. If you are also 

creating a new company, continue to step 7.

7. If there is no existing company or reporting entity, click on No, create a new

company/reporting entity (Figure 18, red arrow) under the question Register with an 

Existing Company/Reporting Entity?

8. Create and enter the new Company/Reporting Entity name and Security Code (Figure 18,

starred, mandatory fields) and click on Submit.

Figure 18. Create a New Company or Reporting Entity

9. After the company/reporting entity and security code information is submitted, a dialogue
NORS USER MANUAL 19

box, “Confirm Company Details” with the question, “Please confirm new company details”

appears. If the company details are correct select Yes (Figure 19).

Figure 19. Confirm Company Details, New Company

10. After selecting Yes, the following screen alert is displayed (Figure 20).

Figure 20. Alert Message: Added as Inputter to a New Company/Reporting Entity

3.3 Updating Profile

To update your profile in the ServiceNow system, click the username located in the top right-hand

corner of the screen, and select the Profile link (Figure 21). The subsequent screen is self-explanatory.

It permits changes to name, business phone, mobile phone, position title, email address, preferred date

format, and preferred time zone.

3.4 Logging Out

To log out of the ServiceNow system (i.e., end the session and log out), click the username located in the

top right-hand corner of the screen, and select the Logout link (Figure 21).

Figure 21. Changing Profile/Logging Out

Profile

Logout
NORS USER MANUAL 20

4. Reporting an Outage Other than a Submarine Cable Outage 

Once the user has registered as an Inputter (existing or new, company and/or reporting entity), the user

will have the ability to file an outage, update their outages that were filed, and review or withdraw the 

report.

4.1 Report Notification

To submit a notification:

1. Click on NORS Records/Actions (Figure 22).

2. Click on Report Notification (Figure 22, red arrow).

Figure 22. Report Notification

3. The blank NORS Outage notification screen appears and shows fields to be filled in (Figure

23). If you are a member of only one company or reporting entity, the “Company” field will

default to that company’s or reporting entity’s name.

4. Populate the fields in each expandable section (Figure 23 below, mandatory fields with red 

asterisks). Note: In this example the first expandable section, Incident information, has been 

expanded.
NORS USER MANUAL 21

Figure 23. NORS Outage Notification Report Page Tabs

5. After populating the mandatory fields, click on either Submit Notification located near the

lower left corner of the screen or the other Submit Notification near the upper right

corner of the screen (Figure 23, red arrows).

6. Once Submit Notification is selected, NORS displays a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission

of Notification Report”. Click on Yes to confirm submission (Figure 24).

Figure 24. Submission of Notification Report Confirmation

7. When the submission of the notification report is confirmed, NORS Coordinators and the 

report Inputter are sent confirmation e-mails from “FCC NORS” verifying the submission of 

notification reports. Coordinators should ensure that e-mail can be accepted from <fccoutage@fcc.gov> and should check their spam folder if these messages are not being received.
NORS USER MANUAL 22

4.2 Submit Initial Report

To submit an Initial Report:

1. Click on NORS Records/Actions (Figure 25).

2. Click on NORS Outages (Figure 25, red arrow).

Figure 25. NORS Outages

3. Find the Notification from the list view in the “Notification” status that you want to update (Figure 26, red

rectangle). 

4. Select the icon on the list view to open the NORS Outage Report form (Figure 26, red arrow).

Figure 26. Notification List View

5. Once the NORS Outage Report form is displayed, fill in the required information (expanding tabs as necessary) 

and click on Submit Initial Report or Withdraw Report (Figure 27, red arrows).
NORS USER MANUAL 23

Figure 27. Submit Initial Report or Withdraw Report

6. To save a pdf copy of the report, click on one of the two “Export to PDF” buttons (Figure 27, red arrows). 

4.3 Update Report (to Initial, Final, or Withdrawn)

To update a report:

1. Follow Steps 1-2, Section 4.2, Submit Initial Report.

2. Find the file that you wish to update, finalize, or withdraw.

3. Select the  icon on the list view to open the NORS Outage Report form.

4. Once the NORS Outage Report form is displayed, update the report, as needed. 

5. After updates are made to a draft report, as shown in Figure 28, it can be exported to PDF, submitted as an

Initial or Final Report, saved as a draft in NORS, or Withdrawn by clicking on the respective buttons. (If you have 

not yet submitted an initial report, the option to submit a final report may not be available.)
NORS USER MANUAL 24

Figure 28. Update, Finalize, or Withdraw Report

6. If Submit Initial Report was selected, NORS should display a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission of 

Initial Report”. Click on Yes to confirm submission (Figure 29).

Figure 29. Submission of Initial Report Confirmation

7. If Submit Final Report was selected, NORS displays a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission of Final Report”.

Click on Yesto confirm submission (Figure 30).
NORS USER MANUAL 25

Figure 30. Submission of Final Report Confirmation

8. If Withdraw Report was selected, NORS displays the “Withdraw Report” dialogue box (Figure 31).

Figure 31. Withdraw Report Screen

9. Enter the reason for withdrawal and select Withdraw (Figure 31).

10. Once the request to withdraw a report is submitted, the user is asked to confirm the withdrawal of report; click

on Yes in response to “Are you sure you want to withdraw this report?”
NORS USER MANUAL 26

11. To verify the updated or current report type (i.e., the change to “Initial” or “Final” or “Withdrawn”) click on

NORS Outages (Figure 32).

Figure 32. NORS Outages

12. Once NORS Outagesis selected, you can use a filter to find a specific outage. (Use of filters is described below in 

Section 4.5.) A list of outages satisfying the filter criteria will appear (Figure 33).

Figure 33. Outage History List

13. NORS Coordinators and the Inputter receive confirmation e-mails from “FCC NORS” verifying the submission

of an initial, final, or withdrawn report. Users should ensure e-mail can be accepted from <fccoutage@fcc.gov> and should check their spam folder if these messages are not being received.

4.4 Request to Reopen an Outage Report

If you want to revise a NORS report that has been finalized or withdrawn, it will be necessary to have the report 

reopened.

1. To reopen a Final or Withdrawn Report, click the Reopen Report link (Figure 34, red arrow).
NORS USER MANUAL 27

Figure 34. Reopen Report

2. Once the Reopen Report link is selected, NORS opens the “Request to Reopen Report” dialogue box (Figure

35).

Figure 35. Request to Reopen Report

3. Enter the company security code and the reason to reopen (Figure 35, starred mandatory fields) and

select Ok.

4. Once the request to reopen a report is submitted, NORS displays “Request Submitted” dialogue box; click on OK 

(Figure 36)

Figure 36. Request to Reopen Acknowledgment

5. After the request is received, “FCC NORS” will send an email confirming receipt of the request. After the request 

is approved or rejected, “FCC NORS” will send email confirming the disposition of the request. Requesters should 

ensure that e-mail can be accepted from <fcc-outage@fcc.gov> and should check their spam folder if these 
NORS USER MANUAL 28

messages are not being received.

4.5 Create a File of NORS Reports

Grouping of NORS outage reports can be made from the NORS Outages and the NORS Outage History tabs.

1. Click NORS Outages or NORS Outage History (Figure 37).

Figure 37. NORS Outage Reports

2. Filter search results according to options. Enter the criteria of interest. To include additional criteria in the filter,

press “AND” or “OR” for your filter query. Click “Run” after you have built the query. (Figure 38, red box and 

arrows).

Figure 38. NORS Outage Report Criteria
NORS USER MANUAL 29

Figure 39. NORS Outage Report Formats

3. The user can now view a list of outage reports that meet the filter criteria (Figure 39). Right click the label at the 

top of any column, or the icon to the left of the label; select Export, and select the desired format (Excel, CSV, 

JSON, PDF) for the exported file (Figure 39, red arrows).

4.6 Obtain a List of Overdue Outage Reports

1. In the main NORS menu, click on NORS Overdue Reports.

Figure 40.NORS Overdue Reports

2. Click the Overdue Initial Reports, Overdue Final Reports, or Final Reports Due in 5 Days module in the

application navigator (Figure 41).
NORS USER MANUAL 30

Figure 41. NORS Reports

3. The requested list of reports will be displayed.

5. Reporting a Submarine Cable Outage 

Once the user has registered as an Inputter (existing or new reporting entity), the user will have the

ability to file an outage report, update their outage reports that were filed, and review or withdraw a 

report.

5.1 Report Submarine Cable Outage Notification

To submit a notification report:

1. Click on NORS Submarine Cable Records/Actions (Figure 42).

2. Click on Report SC Notification (Figure 42, red arrow). The NORS Outage Report form becomes

available to record outage information.

Figure 42. Submarine Cable Report Notification

3. The blank NORS Outage notification screen appears and shows fields to be filled in (Figure

43). If you are a member of only one reporting entity, the “Reporting Entity” field will default

to that reporting entity’s name.

4. Populate the fields in each expandable section (Figure 43 below, mandatory fields with red 

asterisks).
NORS USER MANUAL 31

Figure 43. NORS Submarine Cable Outage Notification Report Page Tabs

5. After populating the mandatory fields, click on either Submit Notification located near the

upper right corner of the screen (Figure 43, red arrow) or the other Submit Notification

near the lower left corner of the screen (the latter notshown in Figure 43).

6. Once Submit Notification is selected, NORS displays a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission

of Notification Report”. Click on Yes to confirm submission (Figure 44).

Figure 44. Submission of Notification Report Confirmation

7. When the submission of the notification report is confirmed, NORS Coordinators and the 

report Inputter are sent confirmation e-mails from “FCC NORS” verifying the submission of 

notification reports. Coordinators should ensure that e-mail can be accepted from <fccoutage@fcc.gov> and should check their spam folder if these messages are not being received.
32

5.2 Submit Submarine Cable Interim Report

To submit an Interim Report:

1. Click on NORS Submarine Cable Records/Actions (Figure 45).

2. Click on SC NORS Outages (Figure 45, red arrow).

Figure 45. NORS Outages

3. Find the Notification from the list view in the “Notification” status that you want to update

(Figure 46, red rectangle). NOTE: Submarine Cable outage report numbers will begin with the 

prefix “SC.”

4. Select the icon on the list view to open the NORS Outage Report form (Figure 46, red arrow).

Figure 46. Submarine Cable Outage List View

5. Once the NORS Outage Report form is displayed, fill in the required information (expanding tabs

as necessary) and click on Submit Interim Report or Withdraw Report (Figure 47, red arrows).
33

Figure 47. Submit Interim Report or Withdraw Report

6. To save a pdf copy of the report, click on one of the two “Export to PDF” buttons. They appear 

near the lower left corner of Figure 47 and in the top middle of the Figure (green arrows).

5.3 Update Submarine Cable Report (Interim, Final, or Withdrawn)

To update a report:

1. Follow Steps 1-2, Section 5.2, Submit Submarine Cable Interim Report.

2. Find the file that you wish to update, finalize, or withdraw.

3. Select the  icon on the list view to open the NORS Outage Report form.

4. Once the NORS Outage Report form is displayed, update the report, as needed.

5. After updates are made to a draft report, as shown in Figure 48, it can be exported to PDF, 

submitted as an Interim or Final Report, saved as a draft in NORS, or Withdrawn by clicking on the

respective buttons. (If you have not yet submitted an interim report, the option to submit a final 

report may not be available.)
34

Figure 48. Submit Interim or Final Report or Withdraw Report

6. If Submit Interim Report was selected, NORS displays a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission of 

Interim Report”. Click on Yes to confirm submission (Figure 49).

Figure 49. Submission of Interim Report Confirmation

7. If Submit Final Report was selected, NORS displays a confirmation page, “Confirm Submission of

Final Report”. Click on Yesto confirm submission (Figure 50).
35

Figure 50. Submission of Final Report Confirmation

8. If Withdraw Report was selected, NORS displays the “Withdraw Report” dialogue box (Figure 51).

Figure 51. Withdraw Report Screen

9. Enter the reason for withdrawal and select Withdraw (Figure 51).

10. Once the request to withdraw a report is submitted, the user is asked to confirm the withdrawal of 
36

report; click on Yes in response to “Are you sure you want to withdraw this report?”

11. To verify the updated or current report type (i.e., the change to “Interim” or “Final” or

“Withdrawn”) click on SC NORS Outages (Figure 52).

Figure 52. NORS Outages

12. Once SC NORS Outagesis selected, you can use a filter to find a specific outage. (Use of filters is 

described below in Section 5.5.) A list of outages satisfying the filter criteria will appear (Figure 53).

Figure 53. Submarine Cable Outage History List

13. NORS Coordinators and the Inputter receive confirmation e-mails from “FCC NORS” verifying the

submission of an interim, final, or withdrawn report. Users should ensure e-mail can be accepted

from <fcc-outage@fcc.gov> and should check their spam folder if these messages are not being 

received.

5.4 Request to Reopen a Submarine Cable Outage Report

If you want to revise a NORS Submarine Cable report that has been finalized or withdrawn, it will be 

necessary to have the report reopened.
37

1. To reopen a Final or Withdrawn Report, click the Reopen Report link (Figure 54, red arrow). 

Figure 54. Reopen Report

2. Once the Reopen Report link is selected, NORS opens the “Request to Reopen Report” dialogue

box (Figure 55).

Figure 55. Request to Reopen Report

3. Enter the company security code and the reason to reopen (Figure 55, starred, mandatory fields)

and select Ok.

4. Once the request to reopen a report is submitted, NORS displays “Request Submitted” dialogue 

box; click on OK (Figure 56).

Figure 56. Request to Reopen Acknowledgment
38

5. After the request is received, “FCC NORS” will send an email confirming receipt of the request. 

After the request is approved or rejected, “FCC NORS” will send email confirming the disposition of 

the request. Requesters should ensure that e-mail can be accepted from <fcc-outage@fcc.gov> and 

should check their spam folder if these messages are not being received.

5.5 Create a File of Submarine Cable NORS Reports

Grouping of NORS submarine cable outage reports can be made from the SC NORS Outages and the

SC NORS Outage History tabs.

1. Click SC NORS Outages or SC NORS Outage History (Figure 57).

Figure 57. Submarine Cable NORS Outage Reports

2. Filter search results according to options. Enter the criteria of interest. To include additional

criteria in the filter, press “AND” or “OR” for your filter query. Click “Run” after you have built the 

query. (Figure 58, red box and arrows).

Figure 58. NORS Outage Report Criteria

3. The user can now view a list of outage reports that satisfy the filter criteria.

4. Right click the label at the top of any column, or the icon to the left of the label; select Export, and 

select the desired format (Excel, CSV, JSON, PDF) for the exported file (Figure 59, red arrows).
39

Figure 59. NORS Outage Report Formats

5.6 Obtain List of Overdue Submarine Cable Outage Reports

1. Click on the Overdue SC Interim Reports, Overdue SC Final Reports, or SC Final Reports Due in 5 

Days module in the application navigator (Figure 60).

Figure 60. NORS Reports

2. The requested list of reports will be displayed.
40

6. Fields on the Notification Form for an Outage Other than a 

Submarine Cable Outage 

Company – This lists the name of the company filing the outage report. It is the name of a company to 

which the outage inputter has been assigned. The Commission requires providers of wireline, wireless, 

cable circuit-switched telephony, satellite, paging, and Signaling System 7 (SS7) communications services to 

submit outage reports regarding disruptions to communication when disruptions meet the reporting 

thresholds as defined in Part 4 of the Commission's Rules on any facilities provided for a fee to one or more 

unaffiliated entities by radio, wire, cable, satellite, and/or lightguide: two-way voice and/or paging service, 

and/or SS7 communications.

Select the company name from the scroll down menu. Typing a letter in the field will highlight the first 

company in the list with that letter as an initial.

Type of Reporting Entity – Pick from the scroll down menu the type of entity or type of service that your 

company provides relative to the incident being reported. The choices are:

Wireline Carrier

Wireless Carrier

Cable telephony provider

Paging provider

Satellite provider

SS7 network provider

E911 service provider

Facility owner or operator

VoIP provider

(For submarine cable outage reports, use sections 8 and 9.)

A carrier that provides SS7 service, E911 service and is a facility owner should identify itself as a wireline 

carrier or E911 service provider, respectively. The designation “SS7 network provider” is intended for 

companies that only provide SS7 service. Similarly, the designation “E911 service provider” is for 

companies that only provide all or some portion of E911 service. The designation “Facility owner or 

operator” is for companies that are not carriers but own, operate and lease facilities for use in 

telecommunications. A carrier which provides both wireline and wireless services should choose the 

designation which most closely relates to the incident being reported.

Incident Date and Time - Provide the date and time of the commencement of the outage. NORS will bring 

up a calendar with today’s date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the 

space provided below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date 

and time in the field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-

hour format in the time zone selected for the outage report. See also the discussion of Time Zone below.

Time Zone – Pick one of the following from the scroll down menu:

Alaskan

Atlantic

Central

Eastern

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
41

Guam

Hawaii-Aleutian

Mountain

Other

Pacific

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are both in the Atlantic time zone. “Other” should be used for other 

territories, such as American Samoa.

When the filer enters times into the report, the times should be for the time zone selected.

Date and Time Determined Reportable - Date and time at which a company determines that an outage has 

occurred and meets one or more of the reportable thresholds. NORS will bring up a calendar with today’s 

date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the space provided below the 

calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and time in the field using the 

format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-hour format in the time zone 

selected for the outage report. See also the discussion of Time Zone above.

Reason Reportable – Provide the threshold that was crossed to determine that this outage was reportable. 

If more than one threshold was crossed, please choose the primary reason. Pick one of the following from 

the scroll down menu:

Wireline – 900,000 user-minutes

Wireless – 900,000 user-minutes

Cable telephony – 900,000 user-minutes

MSC

E911

Blocked Calls

667 OC3 minutes

OC3-Simplex greater than 4 Days

SS7 - MTP Messages

Airport

Other Special Facilities2

Paging

Satellite

Other

VoIP – E911

VoIP – 900,000 user-minutes

E911 Outage – For E911 and VoIP-E911 outages, select one of the following from the scroll down menu:

ALI Only Affected – For wireline carriers when location of the caller could not be provided, but the 

call could be routed to a public-safety answering point (PSAP).

Phase II Only Affected – For wireless outages when Phase II location information could not be 

provided, but the call could be routed to a PSAP.

Phase I and Phase II Only Affected – For wireless outages when neither Phase I nor Phase II could 

be provided, but the call could be routed to a PSAP.

2 Enrolled in the Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) Program at priority Levels 1 and 2.
42

More than Location Affected – For wireline and wireless carriers when the call could not be routed 

to the appropriate PSAP.

For outages that are neither E911 nor VoIP-E911, select “E911 Not Affected” from the scroll down menu.

Failure in Other Company- Check “Yes” if the failure occurred in another company’s communication 

network. Otherwise, check “No”.

Number of Potentially Affected

Wireline Users Affected – Provide the sum of the number of assigned telephone numbers 

potentially affected by the outage and the number of administrative numbers potentially affected. 

If this outage did not affect wireline users, please leave this blank.

“Assigned numbers” are defined as the telephone numbers working in the Public Switched 

Telephone Network under an agreement such as a contract or tariff at the request of specific end 

users or customers for their use and include DID numbers. This excludes numbers that are not yet 

working but have a service order pending.

“Administrative numbers” are defined as the telephone numbers used by communications providers 

to perform internal administrative or operational functions necessary to maintain reasonable quality 

of service standards.

Wireless Users Affected – Provide the number of potentially affected wireless users. If this outage 

did not affect wireless users, please leave this blank.

VoIP Users Affected – Provide the number of potentially affected VoIP users. If this outage did not 

affect VoIP users, please leave this blank. If the outage affected wireless users, include the number 

of VoLTE users potentially affected in this field. For example, if 20,000 wireless users were affected 

and 4,000 out of the 20,000 were VoLTE users, then enter 20,000 wireless users affected (as 

described above) and 4,000 VoIP users affected in the field described here.

Paging Users Affected - Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers for those paging 

networks in which each individual user is assigned a telephone number. If this outage did not 

affect paging users, please leave this blank.

Cable Telephone Users Affected - Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers. If this 

outage did not affect cable telephony users, please leave this blank.

Satellite Users Affected – Provide the number of satellite users affected (if known).

Number of Affected

OC3s – Provide the number of OC3s that were affected by the outage and were out of service for 

30 or more minutes. This should be the total capacity of the affected facilities, and not restricted 

to OC3s that are being utilized. 

OC3s restored to service in fewer than 30 minutes should not be included in the count of the 

number of OC3s affected. For example, if an outage initially took 192 OC3s out of service, but 128 

were restored to service in less than 30 minutes, then only 64 were out of service for 30 minutes or 

longer; consequently, the number of affected OC3s should be recorded as “64”.
43

If some failed OC3s were initially out of service but restored in fewer than 30 minutes, the rapid 

restoration of those OC3s can be noted in the “Description of Incident” field, but they should not 

be included in the count of the number of OC3s affected.

Count any failed STS3c as a failed OC3, a failed STS12c as 4 OC3s, etc.

Number of Blocked Calls – Provide the number of blocked calls.

If no calls were blocked, please leave the field blank or enter “0”.

If blocked call information is available in only one direction for interoffice facilities that handle 

traffic in both directions, the total number of blocked calls shall be estimated as twice the number 

of blocked calls determined for the available direction.

If real time information is not available, providers may provide data for the same day(s) of the 

week and the same time(s) of day as the outage, covering a time interval not older than 90 days 

preceding the onset of the outage in an effort to estimate blocked calls. In this case, the number of 

blocked calls reported should be three times the historic carried load.

If, for whatever reason, real-time and historic carried call load data are unavailable to the provider, 

even after a detailed investigation, the provider must estimate the carried call load based on data 

obtained in the time interval between the repair of the outage and the due date for the Final 

report; this data must cover the same day of the week, the same time of day, and the same 

duration as the outage. Justification that such data accurately estimates the traffic that would 

have been carried at the time of the outage must be available on request. In this case, the 

estimate of the number of blocked calls reported should be 3 times carried load.

The number of blocked calls, if known, should be filled out even if it is not the trigger for an outage 

being reportable.

Blocked Calls Realtime and Blocked Calls Historic– If the number of Blocked Calls is provided, 

check whether this number came from real-time data or was based on historic carried loads the 

same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) of day as the outage.

Number of Lost SS7 MTP Messages - In cases of an SS7 outage and where an SS7 provider cannot 

directly estimate the number of blocked calls, provide the number of real-time lost SS7 Message 

Transfer Part (MTP) messages or the number of SS7 MTP messages carried on a historical basis. 

Historic carried SS7 MTP messages should be for the same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) 

of day as the outage. The historic information should not be older than 90 days preceding the 

onset of the outage. If the outage does not affect an SS7 network, please leave this field blank.

Lost SS7 Messages Realtime and Lost SS7 Messages Historic –If the Number of Lost SS7 MTP 

Messages is provided, check whether this number came from real-time data or was based on 

historic carried traffic the same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) of day as the outage.

Geographic Area Affected

State Affected – Choose the (primary) state affected by the outage from the scroll down menu. All 
44

50 states along with the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are listed. Outages 

affecting more than one state should be listed as “MULTI STATES.” If an outage occurred outside 

the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, please choose “OTHER: 

OUTSIDE 50 STATES.” Entering a letter in the field will highlight the first state starting with that 

letter in the list.

City Affected – Provide the (primary) city or town affected or near the affected site. Please do NOT 

enter the state in this box. This field should not be a county, military base, PSAP, mountain, lake, 

river, neighborhood, or street.

Description of Incident - Provide a narrative that describes the sequence of events leading up to the 

incident, the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred, and the action(s) that finally 

resolved the incident. This is for the reader to better understand what happened. Include any factors that 

may have contributed to the duration of the incident, "quick fix" actions that may have resolved or at least 

mitigated the immediate problem but were not the final, long-term solution, and any other contributing 

factors. 

Primary Contact

Primary Contact information is prepopulated with information from the profile of the person entering the 

information. Alternatively, the information in each field can be provided manually.

Name – Provide the full name of the primary contact person.

Phone Number – Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NXX-NXX-XXXX or 

NPANXXXXXX. That is, 201-444-5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201, the central office code 

is 444, and the line number is 5656.

Extension – Provide an extension number if needed.

Email Address – Provide the e-mail address of the primary contact person.

7. Fields on the Initial and Final Report Forms for Outages Other than 

Submarine Cable Outages 

Note that all of the data previously filled in are carried forward when updating a report. All fields can be 

changed to reflect new information except the Outage Number and Company,

.

Outage Number – This field is automatically filled in from the Notification. It is the unique identifying 

number for the report. 

Updated At time – Updated at date-times are generated automatically by NORS. They do not appear on 

the report input forms, but they are displayed at the bottom of the record or report for an individual 

outage.

Report Type – The report type is selected at the top or bottom of the report input form (it is present at 

both places) by clicking the “Submit Initial Report” button or the “Submit Final Report” button. The Initial 

report shall contain all available pertinent information on the outage and shall be submitted in good faith. 
45

The Final report shall contain all pertinent information on the outage, including any information that was 

not contained in or that has changed from the Initial report.

Company – Lists the name of the company filing the outage report, which is automatically filled in from the 

Notification. Outage reports must be filed with the FCC by any cable communications provider, wireless 

service provider, satellite operator, SS7 provider, wireline communications provider, paging provider, E911 

service provider, or facility owner and on any facilities which it owns, operates or leases that experiences 

an outage that meets the reporting thresholds as defined in Part 4 of the Commission's Rules and 

Regulations.

Type of Reporting Entity – Lists company type. This entry is automatically filled with the information taken 

from the Notification, but can be changed. The possible entries are:

Wireline Carrier

Wireless Carrier

Cable telephony provider

Paging provider

Satellite provider

SS7 network provider

E911 service provider

Facility owner or operator

VoIP provider

Incident Date and Time - Provide the month, day and year at the commencement of the outage. NORS will 

bring up a calendar with today’s date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in 

the space provided below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date 

and time in the field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-

hour format in the time zone selected for the outage report. See also the discussion of Time Zone below.

Date and Time Determined Reportable - Date and time at which a company determines that an outage has 

occurred and meets one or more of the reportable thresholds. NORS will bring up a calendar with the 

latest date provided highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the space provided 

below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and time in the 

field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-hour format in 

the time zone selected for the outage report. See also the discussion of Time Zone below.

Time Zone – Pick one of the following from the scroll down menu:

Alaskan

Atlantic

Central

Eastern

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Guam

Hawaii-Aleutian 

Mountain

Other

Pacific
46

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are both in the Atlantic time zone. “Other” should be used for other 

territories, such as American Samoa. 

When the filer enters times into the report, the times should be for the time zone selected.

Reason Reportable – Provide the threshold that was crossed to determine that this outage was reportable. 

If more than one threshold was crossed, please choose the primary reason. Pick one of the following from 

the scroll down menu:

Wireline – 900,000 user-minutes

Wireless – 900,000 user-minutes

Cable telephony – 900,000 user-minutes

MSC

E911

Blocked Calls

667 OC3 minutes

OC3-Simplex greater than 4 Days

SS7 - MTP Messages

Airport

Other Special Facilities

Paging

Satellite

Other

VoIP – E911

VoIP – 900,000 user-minutes

Outage Duration - Provide the total elapsed time (hours and minutes) from the commencement of the 

outage as provided in the preceding data fields until restoration of fu1l service. For example, if the outage 

duration is 10 hours and 42 minutes, place 10 in the Outage Duration (Hours) field and 42 in the Outage 

Duration (Minutes) field.

Full service restoration includes the restoration of all services to all customers impacted by the outage, 

even if the restoral is over temporary facilities. If the customers’ locations are destroyed such as by a 

hurricane, flood, tornado, or wildfire, the duration continues until the reporting carrier is capable of again 

providing service to those locations. If an outage is ongoing at the time the Final report is filed, report the 

outage duration hours as”9999” and indicate in the description that the outage was ongoing at the time 

the final is submitted.

Explanation of Outage Duration (for incidents with partial restoration times) – Describe the stages of 

restoration if different blocks of users were restored at different times. Often times significant blocks of 

users may be restored to service prior to full restoration of service. If this is the case, provide information 

on the number of users in each block restored to service and the elapsed time to partial restoration so that 

an accurate assessment of the outage impact may be made. In addition, it is important to report when 

some services, e.g., E911, are restored if different than other services. For outages that last an unusually 

long time, an explanation should be provided in this field.

Inside Building Indicator – Select “Yes” if the outage occurred inside a building owned, leased, or otherwise 

controlled by the reporting entity. Otherwise, select “No.”
47

E911 Outage– For E911 and VoIP-E911 outages, select one of the following from the scroll down menu:

ALI Only Affected – for wireline carriers, when location of the caller could not be provided but the 

call could be routed to a PSAP.

Phase II Only Affected – for wireless outages, when Phase II location information could not be 

provided but the call could be routed to a PSAP.

Phase I and Phase II Only Affected – for wireless outages, when neither Phase I nor Phase II could 

be provided but the call could be routed to a PSAP.

More than Location Affected – for wireline and wireless carriers, when the call could not be routed 

to the appropriate PSAP.

For outages that are neither E911 nor VoIP-E911, select “E911 Not Affected” from the scroll down menu.

Failure in Other Company- Check ”Yes” if the failure occurred in another company’s network. Otherwise, 

check “No”.

Services Affected

Cable Telephone – Check the box if cable telephony users were affected.

Wireless (not paging) - Check the box if wireless users were affected.

VoIP - Check the box if VoIP users were affected.

E911 - Check the box if E911 service or some aspect of E911 service was affected.

Paging - Check the box if paging users were affected by the outage.

Satellite - Check the box if satellite facilities were affected by the outage.

Signaling (SS7) - Check the box if SS7 service was affected by the outage.

Wireline - Check the box if wireline users were affected by the outage. This includes outages 

where only intraLATA service or only interLATA service was affected.

Special Facilities - Check the box if any service enrolled in the Telecommunications Service Priority 

(TSP) Program at priority Levels 1 and/or 2 lost telecommunication service. 

Other Service

Number of Potentially Affected

Wireline Users Affected – Provide the sum of the number of assigned telephone numbers 

potentially affected by the outage and the number of administrative numbers potentially affected. 

If this outage did not affect wireline users, please leave this blank.

“Assigned numbers” are defined as the telephone numbers working in the Public Switched 

Telephone Network under an agreement such as a contract or tariff at the request of specific end 

users or customers for their use and include DID numbers. This excludes numbers that are not yet 

working but have a service order pending.

“Administrative numbers” are defined as the telephone numbers used by communications providers 

to perform internal administrative or operational functions necessary to maintain reasonable quality 

of service standards.

Wireless Users Affected – Provide the number of potentially affected wireless users. If this 

outage did not affect wireless users, please leave this blank.

VoIP Users Affected – Provide the number of potentially affected VoIP users. If this outage did not 

affect VoIP users, please leave this blank.
48

Paging Users Affected - Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers for those paging 

networks in which each individual user is assigned a telephone number. If this outage did not 

affect paging users, please leave this blank.

Cable Telephone Users Affected - Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers. If this 

outage did not affect cable telephony users, please leave this blank.

Satellite Users Affected – Provide the number of satellite users affected (if known).

Number of Affected

OC3s – Provide the number of previously operating OC3s that were affected by the outage and 

were out of service for 30 or more minutes, regardless of the services carried on the OC3s or the 

utilization of the OC3s.

OC3s restored to service in fewer than 30 minutes should not be included in the count of the 

number of OC3s affected. For example, if an outage initially took 192 OC3s out of service, but 128 

were restored to service in less than 30 minutes, then only 64 were out of service for 30 minutes or 

longer; consequently, the number of affected OC3s should be recorded as “64”.

If some failed OC3s were initially knocked out of service but restored in fewer than 30 minutes, the 

rapid restoration of those OC3s can be noted in the “Description of Incident” field, but they should 

not be included in the count of the number of OC3s affected.

Count any failed STS3c as a failed OC3, a failed STS12c as 4 OC3s, etc.

Number of Blocked Calls – Provide the number of blocked calls.

If no calls were blocked, please leave the field blank or enter “0”.

If blocked call information is available in only one direction for interoffice facilities which handle 

traffic in both directions, the total number of blocked calls shall be estimated as twice the number 

of blocked calls determined for the available direction.

If real time information is not available, providers may provide data for the same day(s) of the 

week and the same time(s) of day as the outage, covering a time interval not older than 90 days 

preceding the onset of the outage in an effort to estimate blocked calls. In this case, the number of 

blocked calls reported should be 3 times the historic carried load.

If, for whatever reason, real-time and historic carried call load data are unavailable to the provider, 

even after a detailed investigation, the provider must estimate the carried call load based on data 

obtained in the time interval between the repair of the outage and the due date for the Final 

report; this data must cover the same day of the week, the same time of day, and the same 

duration as the outage. Justification that such data accurately estimates the traffic that would 

have been carried at the time of the outage must be available on request. In this case, the 

estimate of the number of blocked calls reported should be 3 times carried load.

The number of blocked calls, if known, must be filled out even if it is not the trigger for an outage 

being reportable.
49

Blocked Calls Realtime and Blocked Calls Historic– If the number of Blocked Calls is provided, 

check whether this number came from real-time data or was based on historic carried loads the 

same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) of day as the outage.

Number of Lost SS7 MTP Messages - In cases of an SS7 outage and where an SS7 provider cannot 

directly estimate the number of blocked calls, provide the number of real-time lost SS7 MTP 

messages or the number SS7 MTP messages carried on a historical basis. Historic carried SS7 MTP 

messages should be for the same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) of day as the outage. 

The historic information should not be older than 90 days preceding the onset of the outage. If the 

outage does not affect an SS7 network, please leave this field blank.

Lost SS7 Messages Realtime and Lost SS7 Messages Historic –If the Number of Lost SS7 MTP 

Messages is provided, check whether this number came from real-time data or was based on 

historic carried traffic the same day(s) of the week and the same time(s) of day as the outage.

Mobile Switching Center (MSC) Failed – Check “Yes” if the outage included an MSC failure. Check 

“No” if the outage did not include an MSC failure. Check “N/A” if your network does not have 

MSCs.

Geographic Area Affected

State Affected – Choose the (primary) state affected by the outage from the scroll down menu. All 

50 states along with the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are listed. Outages 

affecting major parts of more than one state should be listed as “MULTI STATES.” If an outage 

occurred outside the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, please 

choose “OTHER: OUTSIDE 50 STATES.” Entering a letter in the field will highlight the first state 

starting with that letter in the list.

City Affected – Provide the (primary) city affected. Please do NOT enter the state in this box. This 

field should not be a county, military base, PSAP, mountain, lake, river, neighborhood, or street.

More Complete Description of Geographic Area Affected – Provide a more complete description of 

the geographical area of the outage. In particular, for “MULTI STATES” outages, it is important to 

list the states affected. For outages affecting more than one community, it is important to describe 

actual communities affected. Include CLLI codes if applicable.

Description of Incident - Provide a narrative that describes the sequence of events leading up to the 

incident, the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred, and the action(s) that finally 

resolved the incident. This is for the reader to better understand what happened. Include any factors that 

may have contributed to the duration of the incident, "quick fix" actions that may have resolved or at least 

mitigated the immediate problem but were not the final, long-term solution, and any other contributing 

factors. The description should be sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to reach the same conclusions 

as the writer as to the Direct Cause and Root Cause of the incident.

Description of the Cause(s) of the Outage – Provide a text description of all the causes of the outage. This 

text should be in the inputter’s own words and should not use the words in the pull-down menus for Direct 

Cause or Root Cause.

Direct Cause: The direct cause is the immediate event that results in an outage – Scroll down the menu and 

choose the direct cause that is the most accurate. The direct cause is the event, action, or procedure that 

triggered the outage. Section 11 provides a complete description of each of the direct causes. For 
50

example, a cable cut could be the triggering event or direct cause of an outage whose root cause is lack of 

diversity.

Root Cause: The root cause is the underlying reason why the outage occurred or why the outage was 

reportable – Scroll down the menu and choose the root cause that best fits. Root Cause is the key problem 

which once identified and corrected will prevent the same or a similar problem from recurring. With 

today's technology, two or more problems may be closely linked and require detailed investigation. 

However, in any single incident there should be only one primary cause - the Root Cause. Section 11 

provides a complete description of each root cause. For example, a cable cut from improper marking could 

be the triggering event or direct cause but the real cause (root cause) may be lack of diversity.

Contributing Factors – Scroll down the menu and choose the contributing factors that best fit, if applicable. 

Contributing factors are problems or causes that are closely linked to the outage. Often if a contributing 

factor had been addressed beforehand, the outage could have been prevented or the effect of the outage 

would have been reduced or eliminated. The form allows two contributing factors, for which there are 

complete descriptions in Section 11.

Lack of Diversity– Check “Yes” if lack of diversity contributed to or caused the outage. Otherwise, check 

“No.” If Best Practices related to diversity are discussed in any of the Best Practice fields, or if the lack of 

diversity is listed as a root cause or contributing factor to the outage, then this field should be marked 

“Yes”. In general, determine whether engineering standards for diversity are being followed.

Malicious Activity – Indicate whether you believe that malicious activity might be involved in the outage. 

Malicious activity could be the product of terrorists.

If yes - please explain Malicious Activity – Provide an explanation of why you believe the activity is 

malicious or what is suspicious about the activity if “Yes - Cyber” or “Yes - Physical” is selected in the 

Malicious Activity field.

Name and Type of Failed Equipment - Provide the vendor name and the specific equipment (including 

software release if applicable) involved in the outage. For example, if a relay in a power plant fails that 

subsequently causes a switch to go out of service due to lack of power, then report the make and model of 

the relay, not the power plant or switch.

Specific Part of Network Involved – Provide the part of the network involved with the incident. Examples 

are local switch, tandem switch, signaling network, central office power plant, digital cross-connect system, 

outside plant cable, ALI database, etc.

Method(s) Used to Restore Service - Provide a complete, chronological narrative of the methods used to 

restore service, both "quick fix" and final.

Was Telecommunications Service Priority Involved in Service Restoration? – Check “Yes” if TSP was 

involved during service restoration. Otherwise, check “No.”

Steps Taken to Prevent Recurrence – Provide the steps already taken and to be taken to prevent 

reoccurrence. Typically, the corrective actions are identified through a Root Cause Analysis of the incident 

and the steps for prevention can be at both this location and throughout the network(s) if appropriate. If a 

time frame for implementation exists, it should be provided. If no further action is required or planned, the 

service provider should so indicate.
51

Applicable Best Practices that might have prevented the Outage or reduced its effects – Provide the 

number(s) of the Best Practices that could have prevented the outage or reduced its effects. The Network 

Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) and Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability 

Council (CSRIC) have developed a list of Best Practices. They can be accessed via 

https://opendata.fcc.gov/Public-Safety/CSRIC-Best-Practices/qb45-rw2t/data . You can find relevant Best 

Practices by using keywords. Alternatively, Best Practices can also be sourced from the ATIS Best Practices 

website: https://bp.atis.org/ . 

Best Practices used to mitigate effects of Outage - Provide the number(s) and also possibly descriptions of 

the most important Best Practices that were actually used to lessen the effects of the outage. These 

chosen Best Practices helped shorten the outage, reduced the restoration times, prevented the outage 

from affecting more customers, and/or reduced the effects on customers (e.g., ensured that E911 was not 

affected). If none were used, please leave blank. Best Practices can be sourced from 

https://opendata.fcc.gov/Public-Safety/CSRIC-Best-Practices/qb45-rw2t/data or https://bp.atis.org/ . 

Analysis of Best Practice – Provide an evaluation of the relevance, applicability and usefulness of the 

current Best Practices for the outage. If a new Best Practice is needed or an existing Best Practice needs to 

be modified, please indicate.

Remarks – Provide any additional information that you believe is relevant, but did not fit anyplace else on 

the form.

Primary Contact

Primary Contact information is prepopulated with information from the latest report. Alternatively, the 

information can be provided manually in each field.

Name – Provide the full name of the primary contact person.

Phone Number – Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NPA-NXX-XXXX or 

NPANXXXXXX. That is, 201-444-5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201, the central office code 

is 444, and the line number is 5656.

Extension – Provide an extension number if needed.

U.S. Postal Service Address – Optional. May provide the address of the primary contact person using the 

fields Address Line 1, Address Line 2, and Address Line 3.

Email Address – Provide the e-mail address of the primary contact person.

Secondary Contact

Secondary Contact information can be added by clicking the search icon on the right of the field “Select 

User” and select the appropriate user name to prepopulate the secondary contact information and. 

Alternatively, the information can be provided manually in each field.

Name – Provide the full name of the secondary contact person.

Phone Number – Provide the phone number of the secondary contact person in the format NPA-NXX-XXXX 

or NPANXXXXXX. That is, 201-444-5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201, the central office 

code is 444, and the line number is 5656.
52

Extension – Provide an extension number if needed.

U.S. Postal Service Address – Optional. May provide the address of the secondary contact person using the 

fields Address Line 1, Address Line 2, and Address Line 3.

Email Address – Provide the e-mail address of the secondary contact person.

8. Fields on the Notification Form for a Submarine Cable Outage 

Reporting Entity – This gives the name of the reporting entity filing the outage report. The Commission 

requires submarine cable licensees to submit outage reports regarding disruptions to communication when 

disruptions meet the reporting thresholds as defined in Section 4.15 of the Commission's Rules. For cables 

with multiple licensees, the licensees may jointly designate a single “responsible licensee”, and that 

licensee would become the “reporting entity” for outages of the affected submarine cable. For a cable 

with only one licensee, that licensee would be the “reporting entity” for NORS purposes.

The reporting entity name must be the name of a reporting entity to which the outage inputter has been 

assigned. Inputter should select the name from the scroll down menu. Typing a letter in the field will 

highlight the first company starting with that letter in the list.

Type of Reporting Entity – For a submarine cable outage report, the type of reporting entity will always be 

Submarine Cable Reporting Entity.

Cable Name – As given in the license.

List of All Licensees for that Cable – As given in the license.

Incident Date and Time - Provide the date and time of the commencement of the outage. NORS will bring 

up a calendar with today’s date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the 

space provided below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and 

time in the field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-hour 

format in Greenwich Mean Time.

Time Zone – In a submarine cable outage report, all times should be entered as Greenwich Mean Time 

(GMT).

Date and Time Determined Reportable - Date and time at which a company determines that an outage has 

occurred and meets one or more of the reportable thresholds. NORS will bring up a calendar with today’s 

date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the space provided below the 

calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and time in the field using the 

format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-hour format in GMT.

Description of Event - Provide a narrative that describes the sequence of events leading up to the incident, 

the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred, and the action(s) that finally resolved 

the incident. This is for the reader to better understand what happened. Include any factors that may 

have contributed to the duration of the incident, "quick fix" actions that may have resolved or at least 

mitigated the immediate problem but were not the final, long-term solution, and any other contributing 

factors. 
53

Description of Causes– Provide a text description of all the causes of the outage. 

Was Event Related to Planned Maintenance? – Indicate whether the reportable event resulted directly or 

indirectly from planned maintenance.

Location of Cable Landing Station Closest to Failure Site – Provide the country (Country of Cable Landing 

Station Closest to Failure Site) and city (City of Cable Landing Station Closest to Failure Site) in which the 

cable landing closest to the point of failure is located.

Location of the Event – Provide the location of the cable break or other failed unit. There are two formats 

in which this information may be provided.

Miles and Direction

Miles – Provide the distance in nautical miles from the nearest landing.

Direction – Provide the direction of the failure site relative to the nearest landing. For 

example, if the break is located northwest of the nearest landing, enter “northwest” in this 

field.

Latitude and Longitude

Latitude – Provide the latitude of the point of failure. This should be specified in degrees 

and fractions of a degree, rather than degrees, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. 

This number should be followed by N or S, depending on whether it is a location North or 

South of the equator. The number should be accurate to one hundredth of a degree.

Longitude – Provide the longitude of the point of failure. This should be specified in 

degrees and fractions of a degree, rather than degrees, minutes, seconds, and fractions of 

a second. This number should be followed by E or W, depending on whether it is a location 

East of West of the Greenwich Meridian. The number should be accurate to one 

hundredth of a degree.

Contact Information

Contact information is prepopulated with information from the profile of the person entering the 

information. Alternatively, the information in each field can be provided manually.

Contact Name – Provide the full name of the primary contact person.

Contact Email Address - Provide the e-mail address of the contact person

Contact Telephone Number – Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NXXNXX-XXXX or NPANXXXXXX. That is, 201-444-5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201, the 

central office code is 444, and the line number is 5656.

9. Fields on the Interim and Final Report Forms for Submarine Cable 

Outages 

Note that all of the data previously filled in are carried forward when updating a report. All fields can be 

changed to reflect new information except the Outage Number and Company.

Reporting Entity – Gives the name of the reporting entity filing the outage report, which is automatically 

filled in from the Notification. Submarine cable outage reports must be filed with the FCC by the cable 

licensee for any cable that experiences an outage that meets the reporting thresholds as defined in Section 

4.15 of the Commission's Rules and Regulations. For cables with multiple licensees, the licensees may 
54

jointly designate a single “responsible licensee”, and that licensee would become the “reporting entity” for 

outages of the affected submarine cable. 

Type of Reporting Entity– For a submarine cable outage report, the type of reporting entity will always be 

Submarine Cable Reporting Entity.

Outage Number –This field is automatically filled in from the Notification. It is the unique identifying 

number for the report. 

Report Type – The type of report being submitted is specified at the top or bottom of the report input form 

(it is present at both places) by clicking the “Submit Interim Report” button or the “Submit Final Report” 

button. The Interim report shall contain all available pertinent information on the outage, including at a 

minimum information for all mandatory fields in the report template, and shall be submitted in good faith. 

The Final report shall contain all pertinent information on the outage, including at a minimum information 

for all mandatory fields in the report template, and including any information that was not contained in or 

that has changed from the Interim report.

Cable Name – As given in the license.

List of All Licensees for that Cable – As given in the license.

Incident Date and Time - Provide the month, day and year at the commencement of the outage. NORS will 

bring up a calendar with today’s date highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in 

the space provided below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date 

and time in the field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-

hour format in Greenwich Mean Time.

Date and Time Determined Reportable - Date and time at which a company determines that an outage has 

occurred and meets one or more of the reportable thresholds. NORS will bring up a calendar with the 

latest date provided highlighted; click on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the space provided 

below the calendar. Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and time in the 

field using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, with the “hh” being consistent with a 24-hour format in 

Greenwich Mean Time.

Time Zone – In a submarine cable outage report, all times should be entered as Greenwich Mean Time 

(GMT).

Outage Duration - Provide the total elapsed time (days and hours) from the commencement of the outage 

as provided in the preceding data fields until restoration of fu1l service. For example, if the outage 

duration is 10 days and 22 hours, place 10 in the Outage Duration (Days) field and 22 in the Outage 

Duration (Hours) field.

Full service restoration includes the restoration of all services to all customers impacted by the outage, 

even if the restoral is over temporary facilities. If the customers’ locations are destroyed such as by a 

hurricane, flood, tornado, or wildfire, the duration continues until the reporting carrier is capable of again 

providing service to those locations. If an outage is ongoing at the time the Final report is filed, report the 

outage duration hours as”9999” and also indicate in the description that the outage was ongoing at the 

time the final is submitted.
55

Description of Event - Provide a narrative that describes the sequence of events leading up to the incident, 

the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred, and the action(s) that finally resolved 

the incident. This is for the reader to better understand what happened. Include any factors that may 

have contributed to the duration of the incident, "quick fix" actions that may have resolved or at least 

mitigated the immediate problem but were not the final, long-term solution, and any other contributing 

factors. 

Description of Causes – Provide a text description of all the causes of the outage. 

Was Event Related to Planned Maintenance? – Indicate whether the reportable event resulted directly or 

indirectly from planned maintenance.

Location of Cable Landing Station Closest to Failure Site – Provide the country (Country of Cable Landing 

Station Closest to Failure Site) and city (City of Cable Landing Station Closest to Failure Site) in which the 

cable landing closest to the point of failure is located.

Location of the Event – Provide the location of the cable break or other failed unit. There are two formats 

in which this information may be provided.

Miles and Direction

Miles – Provide the distance in nautical miles from the nearest landing.

Direction – Provide the direction of the failure site relative to the nearest landing. For 

example, if the break is located northwest of the nearest landing, enter “northwest” in this 

field.

Latitude and Longitude

Latitude – Provide the latitude of the point of failure. This should be specified in degrees 

and fractions of a degree, rather than degrees, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. 

This number should be followed by N or S, depending on whether it is a location North or 

South of the equator. The number should be accurate to one hundredth of a degree.

Longitude – Provide the longitude of the point of failure. This should be specified in 

degrees and fractions of a degree, rather than degrees, minutes, seconds, and fractions of 

a second. This number should be followed by E or W, depending on whether it is a location 

East of West of the Greenwich Meridian. The number should be accurate to one 

hundredth of a degree.

Date and Time when Plan of Work was Received

Estimate of when the Cable is Scheduled to be Repaired

Arrival Date and Time of Repair ship, if any

Date and Time of Repair

For the fields above, NORS will bring up a calendar with the latest date provided highlighted; click 

on the date to be entered, and type in the time in the space provided below the calendar. 

Alternatively, the date and time may be entered by typing the date and time in the field using the 

format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”

If any of the field (except Date and Time of Repair) is not applicable, filer can enter N/A, which will 

be changed to 0001-01-01 00:00:00 to indicate the field is not applicable. 

Restoration method - Provide a complete, chronological narrative of the methods used to restore service, 

both "quick fix" and final.
56

Steps Taken to Prevent Recurrence – Provide the steps already taken and to be taken to prevent 

reoccurrence. Typically, the corrective actions are identified through a Root Cause Analysis of the incident 

and the steps for prevention can be at both this location and throughout the network(s) if appropriate. If a 

time frame for implementation exists, it should be provided. If no further action is required or planned, the 

service provider should so indicate.

Remarks – Provide any additional information that you believe is relevant, but did not fit anyplace else on 

the form.

Contact Information

Contact information is prepopulated with information from the profile of the person entering the 

information. Alternatively, the information in each field can be provided manually.

Contact Name – Provide the full name of the primary contact person.

Contact Email Address - Provide the e-mail address of the contact person

Contact Telephone Number – Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NXXNXX-XXXX or NPANXXXXXX. That is, 201-444-5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201, the 

central office code is 444, and the line number is 5656.

Updated At time: Updated at date-times are generated automatically by NORS. They do not appear on the 

report input forms, but they are displayed at the bottom of the record or report for an individual outage.

10. Fields on the Withdraw Report Dialog Box 

Outage Number– This field is the unique identifying number for the report. It is automatically provided 

from the latest report submission.

Company or Reporting Entity Name – The name of the company or reporting entity filing the outage 

report, which is automatically provided from the latest report submission.

Reason for Withdrawal – State the reason that the report is being withdrawn.

11. Descriptions of Root Cause, Direct Cause and Contributing Factors 

for Outages Other than Submarine Cable Outages 

Cable Damage

Cable Unlocated

Prior notification of action was provided by the excavator, but the facility owner or locating 

company failed to establish the presence of a cable, which was then eventually damaged.

Digging Error

Excavator error during digging (contractor provided accurate notification, route was accurately 

located and marked, and cable was buried at a proper depth with sufficient clearance from other 

sub-surface structures).

Inaccurate/ Incomplete Cable Locate
57

The cable’s presence was determined, but its location was inaccurately and/or partially identified.

Inadequate/No Notification

Excavator failed to provide sufficient or any notification prior to digging, did not accurately describe 

the location of the digging work to be performed, or did not wait the required time for locate 

completion.

Other

Shallow Cable

The cable was at too shallow a depth (notification was adequate, locate was accurate, excavator 

followed standard procedures).

Cable Damage/Malfunction

Aerial/Non-Buried

Aerial/non-buried cable was damaged or ceased to function (e.g., power transformer fire, tension 

on span, automobile collision, etc.).

Cable Malfunction

Cable ceased to function (e.g., loss of transmission due to aging, connector failure, etc.).

Design - Firmware

Ineffective Fault Recovery or Re-Initialization Action

Failure to reset/restore following general/system restoral/initialization.

Insufficient Software State Indications

Failure to communicate or display out-of-service firmware states; failure to identify, communicate 

or display indolent or "sleepy" firmware states.

Other

Design - Hardware

Inadequate Grounding Strategy

Insufficient component grounding design; duplex components/systems sharing common power 

feeds/fusing.

Other

Poor Backplane or Pin Arrangement

Non-standard/confusing pin arrangements or pin numbering schemes; insufficient room or 

clearance between pins; backplane/pin crowding.

Poor card/frame mechanisms (latches, slots, jacks, etc.)

Mechanical/physical design problems.

Design – Software

Faulty Software Load - Office Data

Inaccurate/mismatched office configuration data used/applied; wrong/defective office load 

supplied.

Faulty Software Load - Program Data

Bad program code/instructions; logical errors/incompatibility between features/sets; software 

quality control failure; wrong/defective program load supplied; software vulnerability to virus 

infection.

Inadequate Defensive Checks

Changes to critical or protected memory were allowed without system challenge; contradictory or 

ambiguous system input commands were interpreted/responded to without system challenge. 

Failure of system to recognize or communicate query/warning in response to commands with 

obvious major system/network impact.

Ineffective Fault Recovery or Re-initialization Action
58

Simple, single-point failure resulting in total system outage; failure of system diagnostics resulting 

from the removal of a good unit with restoral of faulty mate; failure to switch/protect the switch to 

standby/spare/mate component(s).

Other

Diversity Failure

External

Failure to provide or maintain the diversity of links or circuits among external network components 

which results in a single-point-of-failure configuration.

Internal (Other)

Failure to provide or maintain diversity of equipment internal to a building. This is excluding power 

equipment and timing equipment.

Links

SS7 communication paths were not physically and logically diverse.

Power

Failure to diversify links, circuits, or equipment among redundant power system 

components, including AC rectifiers/chargers, battery power plants, DC distribution 

facilities, etc.

Timing Equipment

Failure to diversify critical equipment across timing supplies (e.g., BITS clocks).

Environment – External (for limited use when applicable root causes caused by a service provider or 

vendor cannot be identified; it can also be listed as a contributing factor).

Animal Damage

Component destruction associated with damage caused by animals (e.g., squirrel/rodent chewing 

of cables, insect infestation, bird droppings, bird nests, etc.).

Earthquake

Component destruction or fault associated directly or indirectly with seismic shock. However, if 

damage was the result of inadequate earthquake bracing, consider the root cause to be Design -

Hardware.

Fire

Component destruction or fault associated with a fire occurring/starting outside the service 

provider plant. This includes brush fires, pole fires, etc.

Flood

Ice/Storm

Lightning/Transient Voltage

Component destruction or fault associated with surges and over-voltages caused by (electrical) 

atmospheric disturbances.

Other

Storm - Water/Ice

Component destruction or fault associated with fog, rain, hail, sleet, snow, or the accumulation of 

water/ice (flooding, collapse under weight of snow, etc.).

Storm - Wind/Trees

Component destruction or fault associated with wind-borne debris or falling trees/limbs.

Vandalism/Theft

Component loss, destruction, or fault associated with larceny, mischief, or other malicious acts.

Vehicular Accident

Component destruction or fault associated with vehicle (car, truck, train, etc.) collision.
59

Environment (Internal)

Cable Pressurization Failure

Component destruction or fault associated with cable damage resulting from cable pressurization 

failure.

Dirt, Dust Contamination

Component loss or fault associated with dirt or dust, typically resulting in component overheating, 

or loss of connectivity.

Environmental System Failure (heat/humidity)

Component loss or fault associated with extreme temperature, rapid temperature changes, or high 

humidity due to loss/malfunction of environmental control(s). If the failure was the result of 

inadequate/lack of response to (alarmed/un-alarmed) environmental failures, or due to incorrect 

manual control of environmental systems, consider the root cause to be a Procedural failure.

Fire Suppression (water, chemicals) Damage

Component loss or fault associated with corrosion (electrolytic or other) caused by fire suppression 

activities; this root cause assumes that no substantial failure was directly associated with the 

smoke/fire that triggered suppression.

Fire, Arcing, Smoke Damage

Component loss or fault associated with damage directly related to central office or equipment 

fires (open flame or smoldering), corrosive smoke emissions, or electrical arcing (whether or not 

ignition of surrounding material occurs).

Manhole/Cable Vault Leak

Component destruction or fault associated with water entering manholes, cable vaults, CEVs, etc.

Other

Roof/Air Conditioning Leak

Component destruction or fault associated with water damage (direct or electrolytic) caused by 

roof or environmental systems leaks into/in central office environment.

Hardware Failure

Circuit Pack/Card Failure-Other

Circuit pack or card, other than within a processor or memory unit, failed (e.g., component failure, 

pin edge connector failure, firmware failure, etc.).

Circuit Pack/Card Failure-Processor

Circuit pack or card within the processor failed (e.g., component failure, pin edge connector failure 

, firmware failure, etc.).

Memory Unit Failure

Other

Passive Devices

Equipment, hardware or devices that contain no electronics (e.g., demarcation points, cross 

connect panels, splitters, etc.).

Peripheral Unit Failure

Processor Community Failure

Self-contained Device Failure

Equipment or hardware that contains electronics, but does not contain replaceable components.

Shelf/Slot Failure

Failure of entire equipment shelf/chassis, connectors, or backplane (e.g., physical damage, 

corrosion, contamination, wear, etc.).

Software Storage Media Failure

Hardware failure resulting in corruption of office data, program data, routing data,

etc.
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Insufficient Data

Insufficient Data (no additional modifier)

There is not enough information from the failure report (and subsequent investigation, if any) to 

determine cause(s) of failure.

Cleared While Testing

Service restored before the cause could be determined.

Non-Service Provider Personnel

Failure is caused by non-service provider personnel (e.g., contractors, building maintenance 

personnel, tenant of telco hotel, etc.).

Outside Owned Network

Failure occurred in another company’s network (e.g., leased transport capacity, contracted 

signaling service, etc.).

Under Investigation

Root cause analysis pending.

Other/Unknown

The cause of the outage cannot be determined, or the cause does not match any of the 

classifications above. Excludes cases where outage data were insufficient or missing, or where root 

cause is still under investigation. When root cause cannot be proven, it is usually still possible to 

determine the probable cause, which falls under the heading "Unknown." When classifications 

provided do not match the cause, the approximate match is preferred to be "Other."

Planned Maintenance

To Upgrade the System

Outage occurred during scheduled maintenance to upgrade the system or network element. The 

system or network element upgrade was completed successfully within expected times; 

however, FCC outage reporting thresholds were met.

To Fix Known Problems

Outage occurred during scheduled maintenance to fix known problems. The known problems 

were resolved successfully; however, FCC outage reporting thresholds were met.

Failed

Unexpected condition caused the planned maintenance activity to fail and FCC outage reporting 

thresholds were met.

Went Longer or Was Worse than Expected

The planned maintenance activity was completed successfully; however, due to unexpected 

conditions, planned maintenance took longer or had a greater impact than expected.

Power Failure (Commercial and/or Back-up) (does not include failures of DC/DC converters or fuses 

embedded in switches and transmission equipment, which should be reported as a Hardware 

Failure, unless the problem was caused by the power plant.)

Battery Failure

Batteries did not function as designed.

Breaker Tripped/Blown Fuses

Equipment failure associated with tripped breaker or blown fuse.

Extended Commercial Power Failure

System failure due to commercial power failure that extends beyond the design of back-up 

capabilities.

Generator Failure

Generator did not function as designed or ran out of fuel.

Inadequate Site-Specific Power Contingency Plans
61

System failure due to the insufficiency of the emergency operating procedures and contingency 

plans available and the resulting outage is prolonged because of lack of site-specific information. 

This includes equipment engineering data, portable engine hook-up hardware/procedures, load 

shedding plans, etc.

Inadequate Back-up Power Equipment Located on Customer Premise

Customer premise power equipment unable to support communications equipment due to 

extended loss of commercial or back-up power.

Inadequate/Missing Power Alarm

System failure associated with an un-alarmed (or under-alarmed) power failure, an alarm not 

provided initially due to inadequate standards, failure to implement standards or an alarm/alarm 

system failure (broken or modified). Because of the success in avoiding severe, battery-depletion 

failure where power alarms are effective and effectively responded to, system failures directly 

associated with power alarms should be classified as such, instead of as Procedural failures.

Insufficient Response to Power Alarm

System failure associated response to power failure: alarm system worked, but support personnel 

did not respond properly. 

Lack of Power Redundancy

Failure directly associated with insufficient redundancy of power system components, including AC 

rectifiers/chargers, battery power plan, DC distribution facilities, etc.

Lack of Routine Maintenance/Testing

System failure resulting from infrequent power system testing, maintenance and/or detailed 

inspection. 

Other

Overloaded/Undersized Power Equipment

System failure attributable to insufficient sizing/design of power configuration.

Rectifier Failure

System failure resulting from rectifier malfunction.

Scheduled Activity-Software Upgrade

Scheduled Maintenance-Hardware Replacement

Unidentified Power Surge

Equipment failure associated with unidentified power surge.

Procedural - Other Vendor/Contractor

Ad hoc Activities, Outside Scope of MOP

Unapproved, unauthorized work, or changes in agreed-to procedures.

Documentation/Procedures Out-of-Date, Unusable, Impractical

Lack of updated documentation/procedures, the correction/update is available but not 

incorporated locally, or the document is unwieldy. Some examples are: the use of inadequate 

indexing or cross-referencing, bits and pieces of information being too difficult to integrate, 

ineffective delivery vehicle, etc.

Documentation/Procedures Unavailable, Incomplete

Documentation or procedures (vendor or service provider) are not published; published, but not 

distributed; distributed, but not available on-site; or that some documentation is obscure/oblique, 

too general (lack of practical detail); too detailed/technical for practical use, etc.

Insufficient Staffing/Support

Unexpected conditions depleted available resources; predictable but unavoidable shortage 

(unreasonable demand); ineffective/inadequate roll-down or centralization arrangement; 

resource-intensive (new) technology outside scope/reach of existing automatic/remote 

administration systems, etc.

Insufficient Supervision/Control or Employee Error
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Resulting from insufficient leadership, ineffective administration, and/or maintenance strategies 

(process or communication failures, conflicting priorities, etc.). This sub-category should be used 

when multiple procedural causes are indicated, and also when the service interruption results 

purely from an unintentional action by the employee.

Insufficient Training

Training not available from vendor; training not available from service provider; training available 

but not attended; training attended but provides inadequate or out-of-date information; training 

adequate but insufficient application followed; training need never identified, etc.

Other

Procedural - Service Provider

Documentation/Procedures Out-of-Date, Unusable or Impractical

Documentation/procedures are not updated; correction/update available, but not incorporated 

locally. Documentation/procedures are unwieldy; inadequate indexing or cross-referencing; bits 

and pieces of information difficult to integrate; ineffective delivery vehicle, etc.

Documentation/Procedures Unavailable/Unclear/Incomplete

Documentation or procedures (vendor or service provider) are not published; published, but not 

distributed; distributed, but not available on-site, etc. Documentation/procedures are 

obscure/oblique; too general - insufficient specificity; too detailed/technical for practical use, etc.

Inadequate Routine Maintenance/Memory Back-Up

Failure could have been prevented/minimized by simple maintenance routines. The resulting 

recovery action was delayed/complicated by old or missing program/office data tapes or disk, etc.

Insufficient Staffing/ Support

Unexpected conditions depleted available resources; predictable but unavoidable shortage 

(unreasonable demand); ineffective/inadequate roll-down or centralization arrangement; 

resource-intensive (new) technology outside scope/reach of existing automatic/remote 

administration systems, etc.

Insufficient Supervision/Control or Employee Error

Resulting from insufficient leadership, ineffective administration, and/or maintenance strategies 

(process or communication failures, conflicting priorities, etc.). This sub-category should be used 

when multiple procedural causes are indicated, and also when the service interruption results 

purely from an unintentional action by the employee.

Insufficient Training

Training not available from vendor; training not available from service provider; training available 

but not attended; training attended but provides inadequate or out-of-date information; training 

adequate but insufficient application followed; training need never identified, etc.

Other

Procedural - System Vendor

Ad hoc Activities, Outside Scope of MOP

Unapproved, unauthorized work or changes in agreed-to procedures. Documentation/Procedures 

Out-of-Date Unusable or Impractical

Documentation/procedures are not updated; correction/update available, but not incorporated 

locally. Documentation/procedures are unwieldy; inadequate indexing or cross-referencing; bits 

and pieces of information difficult to integrate; ineffective delivery vehicle, etc.

Documentation/Procedures Unavailable/Unclear/Incomplete

Documentation or procedures (vendor or service provider) are not published; published, but not 

distributed; distributed, but not available on-site, etc. Documentation/procedures are 

obscure/oblique; too general - insufficient specificity; too detailed/technical for practical use, etc.

Insufficient Staffing/ Support
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Unexpected conditions depleted available resources; predictable but unavoidable shortage 

(unreasonable demand); ineffective/inadequate roll-down or centralization arrangement; 

resource-intensive (new) technology outside scope/reach of existing automatic/remote 

administration systems, etc.

Insufficient Supervision/Control or Employee Error

Resulting from insufficient leadership, ineffective administration, and/or maintenance strategies 

(process or communication failures, conflicting priorities, etc.). This sub-category should be used 

when multiple procedural causes are indicated, and also when the service interruption results 

purely from an unintentional action by the employee.

Insufficient Training

Training not available from vendor; training not available from service provider; training available 

but not attended; training attended but provides inadequate or out-of-date information; training 

adequate but insufficient application followed; training need never identified, etc.

Other

Simplex Condition

Non-service Affecting

Occurs when there is a failure of one side of a duplexed system such as a SONET ring yet an 

unprotected simplex service will still provide service for the duration of the outage. Do not use this 

root cause for the complete failure of a duplexed system or in cases where any of the circuits in the 

duplexed system are provided under Service Level Agreements (SLAs) which require protection.

Service Affecting

Failure of one side of a duplexed system such as a SONET ring where an unprotected simplex 

service was provided for a period of time but was not repaired during the usual maintenance 

window or in cases where any of the circuits in the duplexed system are provided under SLAs that 

require protection.

Spare

Spare Not Available – Sparing processes did not result in an available replacement (e.g., service 

provider inventory inaccuracies, transportation of spare located at centralized facility, etc.). 

However, if the unavailability is due to equipment beings Manufacture Discontinued, the cause 

should be listed 

as Spare On Hand - Manufacturer Discontinued (MD)

Spare On Hand – Manufacturer Discontinued (MD)

Obtaining spare made difficult or complicated by MD status (e.g., service provider unaware of MD 

status, scarcity of MD spares, etc.).

Spare On Hand – Failed

Sparing processes provided an available replacement; however, the replacement malfunctioned 

(e.g., out-of-box failure of spare, incompatible software versions, etc.).

Traffic/System Overload

Common Channel Signaling Network Overload

SS7 system/network overload associated with (true) high traffic loads congesting signaling network 

elements or the SS7 link network. If the overload was associated with signaling traffic handling 

congestion, false or reactivated link congestion, inappropriate or incorrect SS7 network 

management message(s), protocol errors, etc., then consider the problem to be a Design -

Software fault.

Inappropriate/Insufficient Network Management (NM) Control(s)

System/network overload or congestion associated with an ineffective NM system/switch response 
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resulting due to the lack of either effective NM control, that the system/switch response to control 

was inappropriate, or that its implementation was flawed. If failure was related to inappropriate 

control strategy or execution by NM organization, consider it a Procedural failure.

Ineffective Engineering/Engineering Tools

System/network overload or congestion directly associated with under-engineering of the 

system/network due to rapidly changing network demand, or introduction of new network 

components and/or technologies. If failure was associated with simple under-engineering (absent 

changing environment), consider it a Procedural failure.

Mass Calling - Focused/Diffuse Network Overload

System/network overload or congestion directly associated with unplanned, external trigger(s) 

causing a significant, unmanageable traffic load.

Media-Stimulated Calling - Insufficient Notification

System/network overload or congestion directly associated with a media-stimulated calling event 

where the event sponsor/generator failed to provide adequate advance notice, or provided 

inaccurate (underestimated) notification.

Other