Pair of 2014 outages lasted 3 hours, impacted T-Mobile US’ nationwide network
The Federal Communications Commission said it has reached a record $17.5 million settlement with T-Mobile US connected to a pair of 911 service outages last year. In addition to the fine, T-Mobile US agreed to bolster its 911 service procedures and “adopt robust compliance measures to ensure that it adheres to the FCC’s 911 service reliability and outage notification rules in the future.”
The FCC noted the “separate but related” nationwide outages occurred on Aug. 8, 2014, and together lasted approximately three hours. The outages prevented T-Mobile US customers from placing 911 calls, with the FCC noting 27,400 calls on average are placed per hour across all telecom providers.
As part of its investigation, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau said it found T-Mobile US did not provide “timely notification” of the outages to impacted 911 call centers and that the outages could have been avoided if T-Mobile US had “implemented appropriate safeguards in its 911 network architecture.”
In addition to cutting a check, T-Mobile US agreed to implement a compliance program designed to enhance its “911 resilience and its 911 risk management process.” That program includes identifying and protecting from risks that could result in 911 service disruption; implement remedial actions that are to include prompt notification to impacted 911 centers; maintain up-to-date contact information for 911 call centers; and file detailed compliance reports with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.
“This Consent Decree includes a commitment by T-Mobile not only to address risk of 911 service failure, but also to improve its 911 call center reporting and its ability to recognize, respond to, and rapidly recover from 911 disruptions,” explained Rear Admiral (ret.) David Simpson, chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
The FCC earlier this year hit telecom operator CenturyLink and its technology partner Intrado $17.4 million in cumulative fines tied to a 911 outage across six states and impacting 11 million people.
Verizon Wireless last month reported a service outage tied to weather that impacted 911 services along parts of the Eastern seaboard, with most of the damage centered on southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
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