On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that four telecommunications companies will pay a total of $6 million.
The fee, a settlement charge will help clear the dust over an investigation into compliance with the agency’s 911 reuse rules during 2020 network outages.
The telecom companies found wanting and their settlement fees include AT&T ($460,000), Lumen Technologies ($3.8 million), Intrado ($1.75 million), and Verizon Communications ($274,000).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel pointed out, “The most important phone call you ever make may be a call to 911. It’s vital that phone companies prevent these outages wherever possible and provide prompt and sufficient notification to 911 call centers when they occur.”
The inability to access emergency numbers in the event of outages led T-Mobile USA to agree to a $19.5 million settlement fee after the FTC launched an investigation into the 2020 outage, which resulted in more than 20,000 failed 911 calls.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.