Colorado should fund next-generation 911 (NG-911) with $1.6 million remaining from a 2022-retired enforcement mechanism called the Colorado Performance Assurance Plan (CPAP), commenters said Friday at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. However, groups disagreed on which nonprofit should administer funds tagged for emergency services.
Industry continued to raise concerns on an FCC proposal on rules to speed a move to next-generation 911 and to call for flexibility, while public safety groups generally supported the agency’s proposed approach, per reply comments posted Monday in docket 21-479. The replies were consistent with initial comments last month (see 2308100025).
Nebraska suffered back-to-back 911 outages, but services are now restored. Fiber cuts led to Lumen 911 outages statewide Thursday night to Friday morning (see 2309010021). Then, the Nebraska Public Service Commission said a fire at a Windstream data center in Lincoln disrupted 911 services at some southeast Nebraska public safety answering points (PSAPs) from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Four counties lost 911 service and others experienced other issues, said the PSC: The incident affected 911 centers that contract with Windstream for their local or regional networks. “Any investigation will look into what led to this disruption in 911 service and will focus on available backup systems and identifying solutions moving forward to mitigate future issues,” Nebraska 911 Director David Sankey said. Southeast PSAPs “are working with officials from the Public Service Commission and Windstream to prevent such an outage from occurring in the future,” the Southeast 911 Committee said Sunday. The Lumen and Windstream incidents were “entirely separate, just coincidental timing,” a Nebraska PSC spokesperson said Tuesday. A Windstream spokesperson said an electrical fire at its Lincoln switch location cut commercial power to the facility Friday. "An on-site generator took over supporting the three switches in the building, and we began efforts to restore commercial power. The generator operated until there was a fault, and we switched to batteries. After supporting the switches for an extended period of time, the batteries dropped to dangerously low voltage levels, and our technical team made the decision to shut down one of the three switches." That "caused a service interruption for a subset of our customers in Nebraska," the Windstream rep said. "When power was restored, we reactivated the switch, a process that took several hours and restored service to the impacted customers in phases." He said the "event was unrelated to anything occurring on any other carrier’s network." In Minnesota, the state’s public safety department said frequent and “increasingly prolonged CenturyLink phone outages” are affecting 911. The Lumen company’s “reporting is often incomplete and thus unactionable,” the department said in docket 20-432. “CenturyLink outages are increasingly on the rise,” with seven in 2017 increasing to 29 in 2022, it said. “Many of these outages lasted several days.” Lumen didn’t comment.
The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus extended some regulatory deadlines for licensees in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Idalia, said a public notice Wednesday. Wireless Radio Service application and construction deadlines that fell between Aug. 28 and Sept. 28 are now extended to Sept. 29, the PN said. Filing requirements for grants of special temporary authority are also waived in the region, and licensees can request them by phone, the PN said. An FCC disaster information reporting system release Thursday shows 57,715 subscribers without service in counties in South Carolina and Florida affected by Hurricane Idalia. The report shows 2.2% of cellsites in Florida are down and .9% in South Carolina. Three Florida public safety answering points were rerouted, and two FM stations and one AM were reported as out of service.
Reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority is a top priority in FY 2024, CEO Joe Wassel said at the authority board’s quarterly meeting Wednesday. The authority will sunset in 2027 without congressional action, Wassel said. The authority oversees the network, which AT&T is building. The board, which met in Tacoma, Washington, and virtually, also approved a budget for the year.
Don’t let Lumen’s CenturyLink relitigate a Washington state probe of a 911 outage that led to a nearly $1.32 million fine against the carrier, said Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff and the state attorney general office’s public counsel in comments Monday. Staff took no position on public counsel seeking about 10 times the penalties ordered. CenturyLink opposed increasing fines, arguing the company should face no penalty.
NTCA and the Rural Wireless Association warned of looming costs for smaller carriers if the FCC approves rules to facilitate a move to next-generation 911, in comments on a June NPRM (see 2306080043). The FCC’s proposed approach got general support from the National Association of State 911 Administrators, the National Emergency Number Association and other public safety commenters (see 2308090036), but industry is raising concerns. Comments were due at the FCC Wednesday in docket 21-479 and were still being posted Thursday.
The National Association of State 911 Administrators warned the FCC that moving to next-generation 911 will be complicated, in comments on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in June (see 2306080043). The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC is on the right track with the NPRM. Comments were due at the FCC Wednesday in docket 21-479. The notice followed a NASNA petition seeking a rulemaking or notice of inquiry to fully implement NG911 (see 2110190066 and 2201200043).
Alaska’s GCI representatives met with staff from the FCC’s Public Safety Bureau on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR) (see 2212210047). “GCI provided additional information at staff’s request regarding the current routing protocols for text messages on GCI’s network,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-64. “A preferable alternative would be to develop more effective standards-based protocols whereby handsets provide location in the initial message method (i.e., the message header) to effectively facilitate timely LBR,” the carrier said: “The message architecture and supporting network architecture do not currently operate this way, and additional standards development and industry agreement would be required.” Parts of the filing were redacted.
Alaska’s GCI became the latest carrier to raise timing concerns on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR) (see 2212210047). “A longer timeline than proposed in the NPRM would likely be required for non-nationwide and regional carriers such as GCI to both deploy and use LBR in their networks,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-64. GCI also said implementing LBR for SMS- and MMS-based texts-to-911 “would be much more difficult than for IP-originated wireless calls, and that significant additional standards development and industry agreement should occur prior to any FCC requirement.” GCI representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff.