agreed to pay a $1.05 million fine to settle An investigation into whether the company violated agency rules after the 911 cutoff. In December 2022, an outage of one hour and 44 minutes blocked hundreds of emergency calls in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, the FCC said.
The agency added that it was similar to the one that happened two months ago. While Verizon has made mitigation efforts to prevent similar outages like the one in October 2022, “certain failures have recurred,” according to the FCC. As part of the settlement, Verizon committed to implementing a compliance plan to ensure compliance with the FCC’s 911 rules and best practices that include risk assessments and security measures.
“When you call 911 in an emergency, it’s important that your call goes through,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Today’s action is part of the FCC’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the public has access to reliable communications, including 911.”