The FCC wants to take a second look at the "last Administration's" (read: Obama's) approach to be sure carriers are "meeting communities' needs" in the wake of disasters, according to Chairman Ajit Pai. In other words, it's using this as an opportunity to see if the framework is actually working as intended.

Whether or not it's working isn't clear. Providers are often quick to boast about their network performance and recovery in the aftermath of disasters, but they seldom talk about their disaster-oriented roaming agreements or joint aid campaigns. And of course, the carriers alone won't necessarily tell the whole story -- the FCC will likely want to investigate what companies aren't saying to determine if there's room for improvement.