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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 30, 2021 / Proposed Rules providers called originating service providers. The second set of rules, adopted in 2013, governs covered 911
service providers, the entities that, as the Commission reasoned at the time, are the most likely to experience reportable outages affecting 911
service. 47 CFR 4.9h; 911 Reliability Report and Order. Covered 911 service providers must notify PSAPs of outages that potentially affect them as soon as possible, but no later than 30 minutes after discovering the outage, whereas originating service providers are only required to notify PSAPs as soon as possible. 47 CFR 4.9a4, c2iv, e1v, f4, g1i, h. Covered 911
service providers must convey to PSAPs all available information that may be useful in mitigating the effects of the outage, as well as the name, telephone number, and email address at which the service provider can be reached, whereas originating service providers are only required to provide all available information that may be useful to the management of the affected facility in mitigating the effects of the outage on callers to that facility. 47
CFR 4.9a4, c2iv, e1v, f4, g1i, h. Covered 911 service providers must notify PSAPs by telephone and in writing via electronic means in the absence of another method mutually agreed upon in advance by the 911 special facility and the covered 911
service provider, whereas originating service providers are only required to notify PSAPs by telephone or another electronic means. 47 CFR 4.9a4, c2iv, e1v, f4, g1i, h.
Finally, covered 911 service providers must follow up with the PSAPs within two hours of making the initial outage notification, providing additional material information that includes the nature of the outage, its best-known cause, the geographic scope of the outage, the estimated time for repairs, and any other information that may be useful to the management of the affected facility, whereas originating service providers are not required to follow up with PSAPs at all. 47 CFR 4.9h. In adopting these broader requirements for covered 911 service providers in 2013, the Commission did not seek to replace the existing PSAP outage notification scheme with a new, more onerous one, but rather, to clarify the timing and notification content with which certain service providers subject to section 4.9
must already comply. 911 Reliability Report and Order at para. 146.
6. 911 Reliability and Certification Rules. In the wake of the devastating derecho that affected the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states in 2012, the
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Commission adopted a series of 911
certification rules to improve 911
network reliability. 911 Reliability Report and Order at paras. 48 through 65. These rules require covered 911
service providers to take reasonable measures to provide reliable 911 service with respect to 911 circuit diversity, central office backup power, and diverse network monitoring. 47 CFR 9.19c. To ensure that covered 911 service providers have taken these measures, covered 911 service providers must certify as to their compliance with each of these three requirements or to their implementation of reasonable alternative measures. 47 CFR 9.19.
7. When the Commission adopted rules for covered 911 service providers in 2013, it committed to reexamining the rules after five years to consider whether the rules were still technologically appropriate and both adequate and necessary. 911 Reliability Report and Order at para. 159. The Commission stated that review of the rules would consider, among other things, whether the rules should be revised to cover new best practices, including outage reporting trends, whether to adopt Next Generation 91
1 NG911 capabilities on a nationwide basis, and whether the certification approach has yielded the necessary level of compliance, noting that a persistence of preventable 911 outages could indicate a need for broader or more rigorous rules. 911 Reliability Report and Order at para. 159. Thus, in 2018, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Bureau issued a public notice seeking comment on the rules effectiveness, as well as on reducing affected parties regulatory burdens. Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Seeks Comment on 911
Network Reliability Rules, PS Docket No. 1375, Public Notice, 33 FCC Rcd 5987, 598890 Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau PSHSB
2018 2018 911 Reliability Public Notice. The Bureau received ten comments and six reply comments from entities representing industry, local government, and the public safety community, and it also hosted meetings with stakeholders to obtain additional information.
III. Discussion 8. In times of emergency, dialing 9
11 serves as a crucial life link for those in need of immediate help. In 2019
alone, those in crisis placed over 200
million emergency calls to 911. 911
Reliability Report and Order at para.
159. More than 70% of these emergency calls originate from wireless phones.
911 Reliability Report and Order at para.

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11. Call takers in the nations approximately 5,700 PSAPs answer these calls and connect callers to emergency services that regularly save lives and safeguard property. 911
systems, however, are susceptible to outages that can occur in the underlying communications network. Ensuring that 911 services are restored quickly following network outages is a top public safety priority for the Commission. Commission rules, among other things, specify 911-related outage notification and 911 reliability certification requirements for providers.
47 CFR part 4, appendix A. In this document, the Commission proposes specific rules to ensure that its 911
notification framework remains robust, reliable, and responsive. These proposals, discussed below, will enhance public safety by ensuring that PSAPs and the public are provided with timely notification of disruptions to 911.
A. Improving PSAP Outage Notification 1. Harmonizing PSAP Outage Notification Requirements 9. When the Commission adopted the more specific notification requirements for covered 911 service providers in 2013, it stated that it would defer for future consideration whether originating service providers should be subject to those requirements, reasoning that covered 911 service providers are the entities most likely to experience reportable outages affecting 911 service.
911 Reliability Report and Order at para.
147. While the Commissions outage reporting rules already require both originating service providers and covered 911 service providers to notify PSAPs of outages that potentially affect 911, the Commissions experiences since adoption of the PSAP notification rules for covered 911 service providers in 2013 demonstrate that having different reporting obligations for originating service providers and covered 911 service providers is neither practicable nor in the public interest.
For example, in at least two instances following a nationwide 911 outage, the Commission through its Enforcement Bureau found that the affected originating service providers had not taken adequate steps to notify PSAPs in a manner that would have allowed the affected PSAPs to ensure the publics access to critical emergency services. TMobile USA, Inc., File No. EBSED15
00018025, Order, 30 FCC Rcd 7247, para. 2 EB 2015 T-Mobile Order;
AT&T Mobility, LLC, File No. EBSED
1700024532, Order, 33 FCC Rcd 6144, 6145, para. 2 EB 2018 AT&T Mobility Order.

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