FCC Extends Network Outage Reporting Requirement to Interconnected VoIP Service to Help Ensure a More Resilient and Reliable 9-1-1 System

The Federal Communications Commission took action to make the nation’s 9-1-1 systems more reliable and resilient by requiring interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to report significant network outages that meet specific criteria and thresholds.

The new rules will help ensure that the country’s critical communications infrastructure remains available in times of crisis. The FCC will use outage reports to track and analyze information on interconnected VoIP outages affecting 9-1-1 service and determine if action is needed to prevent future outages. Interconnected VoIP service providers will be obligated to report significant service outages to the FCC. The FCC’s Report and Order defines outage reporting for interconnected VoIP service, establishes reporting criteria and thresholds, and discusses how the reporting process should work, what information should be reported, and confidential treatment of the outage reports. The FCC deferred action on a number of questions, including the possibility of setting thresholds for reporting outages of broadband Internet service, and measurements for outages of both interconnected VoIP and broadband Internet services based on performance degradation, as opposed to complete service outage.