There is an article at Data Center Knowledge that explores the ramifications from the FCC’s decision a couple of months back to require backup power for cell sites and other parts of the telecom infrastructure.

According to the article:

The new measures, prompted by an FCC review of telecom outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, are likely to increase demand for generators, batteries and other power protection equipment.

Also,

The FCC says central offices should be able to operate for 24 hours without grid power, while eight hours of backup power is required for cell sites, remote switches and remote terminals.

With more than 210,000 cell towers in the United States, as well as 20,000 telecom central offices, it is certainly no small feat. Municipalities are already bracing for disputes as carriers try to add generators or batteries to cell sites on rooftops or water towers.

The other concern is that the rules will further boost demand for generators, where there are already lengthy delivery backlogs for some models.

I admit my initial response was, “Huh, no backup battery?” What is your opinion on the ruling?