NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
March 18, 2015 Neil Grace, 202-418-0506
E-mail: neil.grace@fcc.gov 
OKLAHOMA CARRIER FINED $100,000 FOR FAILING TO DIRECT 911 CALLS TO LOCAL 
EMERGENCY RESPONDERS
Message Instructed 911 Callers to “Hang Up and Dial 911” to Report an Emergency
Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission fined Hinton Telephone Company
$100,000 after an investigation showed that the carrier failed to direct 911 calls to local emergency 
responders.  The investigation, led by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, showed that Hinton routed 
emergency 911 calls for customers in Oklahoma to an automated operator message that directed callers to 
“hang up and dial 911” to report an emergency.
“The American public universally relies upon 911 in a time of crisis,” said Travis LeBlanc, Chief of the 
Enforcement Bureau.  “It is unacceptable for any company to put the health and safety of the public at 
risk by sending 911 calls to voicemail or an automated message.”
Under the Commission’s rules, providers have an obligation to route 911 calls to a public safety 
answering point or an appropriate local emergency authority. In May 2013, the Commission received a 
complaint that Hinton was not providing basic 911 service to its Caddo County, Oklahoma, customers. 
Hinton was aware of the problem for several months and did not fix it.  Hinton only began routing 911 
calls directly to local emergency responders after FCC investigators demanded that they do so.  
Today’s order finds that Hinton failed to use reasonable judgment when it knowingly routed 911 calls to 
an automated operator message—a message that instructed callers to “hang up and dial 911” to report an 
emergency and, only at the end of the long message, presented an option to press “0” to reach an operator.  
The Enforcement Bureau assessed a $100,000 penalty for Hinton’s failure to route 911 calls to a public 
safety answering point or appropriate local emergency authority in 2013.
More information about the Commission’s rules regarding 911 is available at:
http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/9-1-1-and-e9-1-1-services.
The Forfeiture Order is available at:  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-339A1.pdf.
The Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (August 2014) is available at:  
http://www.fcc.gov/document/100k-nal-oklahoma-carrier-sending-911-calls-autorecording.
-FCC-