Posted: May 12 – 05:44 pm
NENA applauds the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) May 12 action proposing network outage reporting requirements for interconnected Voice over IP (VoIP) and broadband Internet service providers. The proposed rules would not only require providers of these services to report outages that meet certain thresholds, but also enable the FCC to use real-world data to craft regulations that prevent future outages from occurring.
As consumers increasingly utilize broadband and IP-based services to meet their communications needs, outages can prove disastrous, said NENA President, Steve OConor, ENP. Todays action by the Commission will help ensure that our nations 9-1-1 system is available to all Americans in moments of crisis.
The adopted Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeks comment on the definition of outage reporting for these services, the proposed reporting thresholds, the effectiveness of mandatory reporting, how the reporting process should work, what information should be reported, and confidential treatment of the outage reports. The proposed requirements are similar to the reporting mandate that has applied to wireless, wireline, cable, and satellite communications service providers since 2005.
More information on the NPRM is available at fcc.gov.