Kansas City, Mo. ? The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday its attempt to require backup power for all U.S. cell towers is dead for now, but it will take another stab at the issue soon.

The agency told a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., that it would honor a regulator’s decision rejecting its proposed requirement that all U.S. cell towers have at least eight hours of backup power.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said last week that the FCC had failed to get public comment before passing the regulations last year, and that it didn’t show that the information required from wireless companies would actually be useful.

It also said the FCC hadn’t demonstrated that it had enough staff to analyze the hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that the wireless industry said its members would likely have had to produce as part of the regulations.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia put the rules on hold this summer at the urging of a group of wireless advocates, including Sprint Nextel Corp. and CTIA-The Wireless Association.

FCC attorney Nandan Joshi said in a letter to the court that the agency would not override the OMB’s ruling.

Instead, Joshi said, the FCC would begin working on a new set of backup power regulations “that will ensure that reliable communications are available to public safety during, and in the aftermath, of natural disasters and other catastrophic events while at the same time attempting to address concerns that were raised regarding the prior rules.”

He also asked that the court dismiss the legal challenge to the regulations, saying that because of the OMB’s decision, the issue was moot.

Responding to Wednesday’s development, Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint said in a statement, “Providing reliable communications services during emergencies is key to what Sprint offers it consumers, and to that end, we await the FCC’s new proposal on this important issue and plan to participate in this proceeding.”

The FCC proposed in May 2007 that all cell towers have a minimum of eight hours of backup power, which would switch on if a tower lost its regular energy source.

The requirement came after an FCC task force pointed out that many cell towers along the Gulf Coast lost power following Hurricane Katrina, contributing to communication breakdowns that complicated rescue and recovery efforts.