The ability to call 911 during an emergency is a vital service, and recent occurrences of outages have caused serious concern. A 911 outage last week in Massachusetts and reports of non-responsive 911 services in Jersey City highlight the issue. Verizon, a major telecommunications company, has faced the consequences of these failures. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has levied a $1.05 million fine on Verizon to settle a 2022 outage. This incident, occurring in December 2022, caused a one-hour and 44-minute disruption of 911 services, preventing hundreds of emergency calls across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This outage followed a similar incident in October 2022. Despite Verizon’s attempts to mitigate the issues, the FCC reports that “certain failures recurred,” leading to the fine.
The FCC, in a statement by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, emphasizes the critical nature of 911 access: “When you call 911 in an emergency, it’s critical that your call goes through.” The FCC is actively working to ensure reliable communication services, including access to 911. As part of a Consent Decree with the FCC, Verizon is required to implement a compliance plan that adheres to FCC 911 rules and best practices. This plan must include risk assessments and security measures.
Loyaan A. Egal, Chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, expresses the seriousness of these violations: “The Enforcement Bureau takes any potential violations of the Commission’s 911 rules extremely seriously. Sunny day outages, as occurred here, can be especially troubling because they occur when the public and 911 call centers least expect it.” The FCC is committed to ensuring that communication providers fulfill their responsibilities in delivering critical 911 services to the American public.
While the fine might seem insignificant for a company that generated $4.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2024, it is a positive sign that the FCC is addressing the problem seriously. Hopefully, this will encourage other service providers to take proactive measures to prevent future 911 outages.
