The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached an agreement with an Alaskan telecommunications cooperative for violations of the Commission’s regulations regarding antenna towers.
Under the terms of an Order and Consent Decree issued by the FCC in early October, the Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative has agreed to pay a $45,000 civil penalty for failing to regularly inspect lighting on three of its antenna structures, and for failing to display the correct antenna registration information on one structure. The Cooperative has also agreed to implement a rigorous compliance plan to prevent future such violations.
Arctic Slope provides communications services to customers living on Alaska’s North Slope, one of the most remote regions in the U.S. According to the Consent Decree, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau requested information from the Cooperative in July 2018 regarding potential violations of the Commission’s Antenna Inspection and Signage rules.
In its responses to the FCC’s Letter of Inquiry (LOI) in September and November, Arctic Slope informed the Commission that an employee had identified the Cooperative’s failure to follow requirements related to either remote monitoring or daily visual inspections of its tower lighting systems located in Deadhorse, Nuiqsut and Wainwright. The Cooperative said that, upon learning of this violation, it immediately initiated daily visual inspections of the towers in question, while making plans to install automatic alarm systems for remote monitoring of the towers.
Read the FCC’s Order and Consent Decree in connection with the Arctic Slope Cooperative.
