Media Contact: 
Will Wiquist
will.wiquist@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

FOUR COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS SETTLE FCC INVESTIGATIONS INTO COMPLIANCE WITH 911 RULES
Companies Agree to Pay Settlements Totaling More Than $6 Million and Make 911 Reliability and Outage Notification Improvements
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WASHINGTON, December 17, 2021—The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau today announced that it has settled five investigations into communications providers’ compliance with the agency’s 911 reliability rules during network outages that occurred last year.  To resolve the matters, each company—AT&T, CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies), Intrado, and Verizon—has agreed to make a settlement payment and implement a compliance plan to ensure adherence to these 911 rules.  The combined settlement payments total more than $6 million. 

“The most important phone call you ever make may be a call to 911,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.  “Sunny day outages can be especially troubling because they occur when the public and 911 call centers least expect it.  It’s vital that phone companies prevent these outages wherever possible and provide prompt and sufficient notification to 911 call centers when they do occur.  I thank the Enforcement Bureau and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau for their work on these investigations.”

The settlements, formally called Consent Decrees, each include a compliance plan and are available below.  In summary: 

AT&T will pay a total of $460,000 to settle two investigations.  First, a $160,000 settlement resolves an investigation into whether AT&T violated FCC rules in connection with failed 911 calls and the failure to timely notify potentially affected 911 call centers during a 911 outage on September 28, 2020.  Second, for a separate outage that also occurred on September 28, 2020, AT&T will pay a $300,000 settlement, which will resolve an investigation in whether it violated FCC rules in connection with failed 911 calls and failure to deliver number and location information.  The Consent Decree is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-1542A1.pdf. 

CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies) will pay a $3,800,000 settlement, resolving an investigation into whether it violated FCC rules in connection with the failure to transmit 911 calls and timely notify 911 call centers during an outage on September 28, 2020. The Consent Decree is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-1543A1.pdf. 

Intrado will pay a $1,750,000 settlement, resolving an investigation into whether it violated FCC rules in connection with an outage that affected the delivery of 911 calls on September 28, 2020 and to timely notify 911 call centers regarding the outage. The Consent Decree is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-1541A1.pdf. 

Verizon Wireless will pay a $274,000 settlement, resolving an investigation into whether it violated FCC rules in connection with failed 911 calls during an outage on May 7, 2020. The Consent Decree is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-1503A1.pdf 

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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. Cir. 1974).
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