Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty in connection with an investigation into the company’s role in a series of 911 system outages in December 2022.
According to an Order issued in late June by the Enforcement Bureau of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless violated Commission rules requiring the transmission of all 911 emergency calls to designated public safety answering points. An investigation by the Enforcement Bureau determined that Verizon Wireless failed to follow critical operating procedures related to the handling of emergency calls, resulting in 911 service outages in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee on December 21, 2022.
Verizon Wireless reportedly experienced a similar 911 service outage in October 2022.
In addition to paying a penalty of $1,050,000, Verizon Wireless has also agreed to implement a robust compliance plan to prevent such 911 service outages in the future, including conducting 911 system risk assessments and establishing processes for implementing security policy updates.
Read the FCC’s Order regarding its settlement with Verizon Wireless.
