911 Outage Reporting

FCC Releases RO on 911 Outage Notification Requirements

911 Outage Notification Requirements Released by FCC

FCC Releases RO on 911 Outage Notification Requirements

On April 23, 2021, the FCC released the Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Improving 911 Reliability and Cybersecurity NPRM. The NPRM proposes to make changes to the 911 outage notification requirements that wireless and fixed voice service providers must follow. The proposed changes would ensure that the Commission receives timely and accurate information about 911 outages, which will help the Commission to better monitor the reliability of 911 networks and to take steps to prevent and mitigate outages.

The Commission monitors the reliability of 911 networks through mandatory outage reporting requirements that wireless and fixed voice service providers must follow. These notification requirements ensure that the Commission receives timely information about outages that affect 911 service, which allows the Commission to take steps to address the outage and restore service as quickly as possible.

The proposed changes to the outage notification requirements would:

• Require wireless and fixed voice service providers to notify the Commission of any outage that affects 911 service within 30 minutes of the outage occurring.
• Require wireless and fixed voice service providers to provide the Commission with more detailed information about the outage, including the time and location of the outage, the cause of the outage, and the steps that are being taken to restore service.
• Require wireless and fixed voice service providers to notify the Commission when service has been restored.

The proposed changes to the outage notification requirements would improve the Commission's ability to monitor the reliability of 911 networks and to take steps to prevent and mitigate outages. The Commission encourages all interested parties to file comments on the NPRM.