Telecom companies get a break on reporting outages during disasters

The US communications regulator just made it easier for telecom companies to report network outages during emergencies. They no longer have to file detailed reports to two different systems at the same time.

During a major disaster, telecom companies are supposed to tell the government when their networks go down. This rule change means they only have to report to one system, not two. This should free up staff to focus on restoring service instead of filling out forms.