FCC Begins Proceeding to Improve 911 Reliability

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Seeking to better protect the public, the FCC on Thursday voted to ensure that 911 call centers and the public receive useful and timely notice of network disruptions that impact 911 service. Such notifications will help 911 call centers maintain emergency services and tell consumers when to use alternatives to call 911, agency officials said.

During the vote, FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel referenced a 911 outage in 2014 that impacted seven states. The agency’s report investigating the cause concluded the outages could have been prevented, according to Rosenworcel. Saying those were “chilling” words “you never want to see twice in a report about public safety,” Rosenworcel stressed the report also attributed the outages to a software coding error that “could have been fixed almost as soon as the outage began.”  

There have been multiple 911 outages since then, according to the Acting Chair, including one as late as last fall. “We propose updates to our rules so that we no longer have different reporting requirements for different providers offering 911 services. That’s because it doesn’t matter if you are on the calling or receiving end of an emergency call, an outage is a problem that needs to be fixed,” Rosenworcel said.

In addition to harmonizing reporting, the rulemaking proposes standardizing the information that carriers share with 911 call centers, to provide certainty and clarity to the public. It also proposes that carriers take steps to notify their customers when there is an outage affecting the availability of 911 services.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the Commission tends to review a single incident when crafting public safety rules. “We hope” with the new proposal “to look more holistically at a range of issues.”

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