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1 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CHAPTER 9 | TELECOMMUNICATIONS 162. Someone makes a call from a cell phone in residents, it also serves the city's million safety. Particularly for vulnerable populations Manhattan to a house on Staten Island. workers, 250,000 businesses, and 50 million during emergencies, being able to send a text to That call follows a circuitous path. The call annual visitors. The city's TELECOMMUNICATIONS a family member or make a 911 call can connects to a cell site atop a private building, infrastructure plays a critical global role: it is be the difference between getting help and runs through cables under the street, navigates estimated that New York City accounts being stranded or worse. As hospitals and other three separate TELECOMMUNICATIONS switching for approximately 3 percent of the world's healthcare providers transition to electronic facilities, and continues through miles of web traffic even as the city serves as home to medical records, connectivity is becoming even underground and overhead cables.

2 When the only percent of the world's population. more essential to our healthcare system. call finally reaches the house on Staten Island, it has been controlled by at least two phone In the city's increasingly information-based Competition across New York City's providers, it has operated under the authority economy which depends on quickly access- TELECOMMUNICATIONS market is robust, with of at least three government regulators, and ing and exchanging information telecommu- multiple providers delivering overlapping it has relied on the seamless operation of a nications keep our city running. The finance services. New York City is served by four cable vast network of equipment. industry depends on these services to process TV providers, the four major national transactions. Small businesses rely on them to wireless providers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Clearly, TELECOMMUNICATIONS in New York City, receive orders and contact customers. New and Sprint), and over a dozen competitive local as elsewhere, are complex.

3 And, of course, they Yorkers use them for everything from getting exchange carriers providing telephone and cover more than phone calls, encompassing news to communicating with friends to buying other services. Internet and cable television services as well. food whether ordering from favorite neigh- All of these TELECOMMUNICATIONS services borhood takeout restaurants or paying for Nonetheless, improvements are needed. rest on a vast infrastructure of over 50 groceries through food assistance programs Sandy exposed weaknesses in the city's thousand miles of cabling, thousands of cell such as Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT). TELECOMMUNICATIONS infrastructure including sites, and nearly 100 critical facilities. This the location of critical facilities in areas that are TELECOMMUNICATIONS infrastructure not only TELECOMMUNICATIONS also are increasingly susceptible to flooding. In Southern Manhattan serves New York's population of million important to New Yorkers' health and public and the Rockaways, the storm caused Components of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS System Cell Site Wireless Backhaul Central Office Cell Site Cell Site Basement Electronics Local Exchange Competitive Local Basement Electronics Carrier COLOCATION HOTELS Exchange High-rise Building High-rise Building Central Office Central Facility for Traffic Exchange Carrier Facility Low-rise Building Low-rise Building Cable Head Low-rise Building End Facility Cell Site Low-rise Building Basement Electronics High-rise Building CABLE TYPE PERIOD IN USE LAST INSTALLED RESILIENCY.

4 Copper Cables 1910s to present Lead sheath cable until 1970s; plastic sheath still being installed Vulnerable to flooding Coaxial Cables 1950s to present Still being installed Difficult to troubleshoot; more resilient than copper Fiber Cables 1970s to present Still being installed Most resilient cable; slowly replacing others 163 A STRONGER, MORE RESILIENT NEW YORK. primarily used for cable TV and Internet Underground Cable and Conduit services. Fiber cable is the newest and most resilient type of cable, being both fully water- resistant and able to carry all types of service. 4 Conduit Conduit, an underground pipe through which cable is threaded, is the way most cable 2 Innerduct snakes beneath New York City. While it is more with Fiber expensive to construct than overhead wires, Interior it is also more protected and less intrusive. Conduit is used in the densest areas of the city Manhattan, the Bronx, and parts Air Pressure of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Manifold Manhattan and the Bronx have a shared conduit network run by Empire City Subway, Fiber Cable a private company that is responsible for providing conduit infrastructure for providers in all areas of those boroughs.

5 In Copper Cable the other boroughs, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Cablevision have the most extensive Credit: Jeremy Walsh conduit infrastructure, some of which is rented to other providers. (See graphic: Underground neighborhood-wide outages that lasted up to infrastructure need to be functioning along the Cable and Conduit). 11 days and for those buildings that suffered entire route for a call, text message, email, or inundation, restoration of service took well over other type of data to be sent successfully from Cell sites are also key components of the three months in some places. one point to another. TELECOMMUNICATIONS infrastructure. Unlike in rural areas, where cell sites often sit atop In keeping with the broad goals of this report Components of the freestanding towers, cell sites in New York City which are to minimize disruptions from climate TELECOMMUNICATIONS System are typically placed on the rooftops of hazards and to increase the New York's The TELECOMMUNICATIONS system is comprised buildings.

6 Cell sites have three components: an capacity to bounce back quickly if damage is of four main components: critical facilities, antenna, electronics, and backhaul circuits . sustained the City's plan should enhance the cabling, cell sites, and equipment in individual cables that connect the cell site to the larger resiliency of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS system. buildings. (See graphic: Components of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS network. Backhaul circuits The City will advocate that a base level of TELECOMMUNICATIONS System) are generally copper or fiber optic cable, most TELECOMMUNICATIONS service is available and frequently taking a single path back to central accessible throughout New York at all Critical TELECOMMUNICATIONS facilities are larger switching facilities. Most cell sites rely on power times for emergency communication, and distribution and switching centers. They supplied by a utility, and have four to eight will work toward quick restoration of full provide connectivity across all major services hours of battery backup.

7 TELECOMMUNICATIONS services when disruptions and each supports tens of thousands of do occur. The City will do this by increasing the customers. These critical facilities include The final piece of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS accountability of TELECOMMUNICATIONS providers telephone central offices; colocation hotels, puzzle is the equipment in homes, offices, to invest in resiliency and by using new which are secure physical sites or buildings and other buildings that distributes signals regulatory authority to enable rapid recovery where data are transferred from one provider transmitted via cabling from critical facilities after extreme weather events, to harden to another; and cable head ends, the facilities to individual customers. This equipment facilities so as to reduce weather-related that distribute cable TV and Internet services ranges from electronic multiplexers in large impacts and to create redundancy to reduce to subscribers. Providing round-the-clock buildings (usually found in basements) to the risk of outages.

8 While competition may services, these critical facilities have back up terminals attached to the exterior of small drive better service and resiliency in some batteries and fuel-powered generators, and residential buildings (positioned a few feet off areas, the City must take an active role in they are environmentally controlled to keep the ground), to individual customers' modems. making the TELECOMMUNICATIONS infrastructure electrical equipment safe from excessive more resilient in all parts of New York. humidity and overheating. Regulatory Framework for the TELECOMMUNICATIONS System Cabling provides the connections essential Federal, State, and City agencies are involved How the TELECOMMUNICATIONS to TELECOMMUNICATIONS and can be strung in the regulation of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS System Works overhead via utility poles or can run industry. However, none currently has underground. New York's oldest cabling is comprehensive responsibility for the entire TELECOMMUNICATIONS services telephone, lead-encased copper, with sections ranging system, and none is charged with ensuring that wireless, Internet, and cable are delivered from 10 to 90 years old.

9 The copper network is required service is available in emergencies. from interconnected central facilities that in poor condition due to its age. Many cables While the Federal Communications Commission transfer data among one another and then send have leaks, compromising the pressurized air (FCC) has a Communications Security, Reliability, that data back out over a network of cables to system designed to keep water away from and Interoperability Council that promotes best end users in their homes and offices or on copper wiring. Coaxial cable is a newer material practices for resiliency, it does not require mobile devices. All components of this that is somewhat resistant to water and is compliance with these standards. CHAPTER 9 | TELECOMMUNICATIONS 164. State and Federal Regulatory Authority Over a Call in New York City Conduit Cell Site Central Office Colocation Hotel Cable Head End Residence 1. Federal Communications Commission 2. NYS Public Service Commission The FCC has significant authority over wireless, Three City agencies are involved in overseeing agencies; for administering the franchises that long-distance phone, and Internet (including various aspects of the TELECOMMUNICATIONS allow communications companies to access at least some aspects of Voice over Internet infrastructure in New York City.)

10 Founded in public rights of way for their infrastructure . Protocol, or VoIP) services. The New York State 1994 to consolidate the City's information above and below the city's streets and for Public Service Commission (PSC) has significant technology functions with its cable and collecting fees and other compensation for authority regarding local traditional landline TELECOMMUNICATIONS activities, the Department such access. The Department of Transportation telephone service. Finally, the FCC, the PSC, and of Information Technology and Telecommunica- (NYCDOT) also plays a role as manager of street the City all share regulatory authority over tions (DoITT) is responsible, among other access through its control of permitting for cable TV service. things, for purchasing and administering street construction. Finally, the Department of internal communications services for City Buildings (DOB) is the custodian of the Building Code, which determines, among other things, the placement of electrical equipment, backup Major TELECOMMUNICATIONS Facility Outages During Sandy power, and fuel storage at critical telecommu- nications facilities.