US judges skeptical of FCC phone backup power order

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court panel on Thursday expressed skepticism about whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to order phone carriers to maintain back-up power needed for emergency communication during a crisis.

Two of three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia questioned at a hearing whether the FCC overstepped its authority by issuing the order in June 2007.

Appeals court judges David Sentelle and A. Raymond Randolph expressed reservations about the FCC's argument that the order was authorized under a U.S. communications law that allows it to act to promote the safety of life and property.

Sentelle said that proposition seemed "a bit of a stretch." Randolph asked why, using the same rationale, the FCC could not claim authority to set wage rates for phone company employees.

The case involves an order passed by the FCC to prevent communications outages like the one that hampered recovery operations after Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

The order stemmed from the recommendations of an outside panel set up by the FCC after the storm to find ways to improve the resiliency of communications networks in future emergencies.

But the FCC's order was challenged in court by an industry group representing wireless phone carriers, known as CTIA. It argued that wireless providers already have put in place plans to keep networks operating during a disaster, and that the FCC order would actually hinder efforts to be prepared for an emergency.

The appeals court gave no indication of how soon it would issue a ruling in the case. (Editing by Braden Reddall)