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AT&T has agreed to a $950,000 settlement to resolve an FCC investigation into an August 2023 outage that disrupted 911 emergency services in Illinois, Kansas, Texas, and Wisconsin. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the settlement Monday, saying it resulted from an enforcement action tied to AT&T’s failure to ensure the timely delivery of emergency calls.

The outage, which took place on August 22, 2023, was traced back to routine testing of AT&T’s 911 network, during which a contractor's technician inadvertently disabled part of the system. As a result, the network failed to automatically compensate for the disabled portion, causing a 1-hour and 14-minute disruption, and more than 400 emergency calls were unable to connect.

FCC rules require service providers to notify affected 911 call centers of outages and deliver calls without delay. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel emphasized the importance of these rules, stating, “Service providers have an obligation to transmit 911 calls and notify 911 call centers of outages in a timely manner.”

Under the terms of the consent decree, AT&T admitted to facts alleged by the FCC and agreed to adopt a three-year compliance plan to prevent similar violations in the future. The plan includes measures to strengthen AT&T's emergency call system and enhance its governance processes to prevent unapproved testing from affecting critical services.

In response, AT&T acknowledged the incident and stressed its commitment to ensuring reliable emergency services. “We understand the importance of having critical access to 911," said an AT&T spokesperson. "We’ve resolved this matter and are committed to keeping our customers connected in times they need it most."

The incident adds to a history of 911 service disruptions involving AT&T. The FCC is also investigating a February 2023 outage that blocked over 92 million calls, including 25,000 attempts to reach emergency services. Earlier, in 2018, AT&T paid $5.3 million to settle an FCC probe into two similar 911 outages from 2017.

Loyaan Egal, chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, reiterated the critical nature of the rules: “The FCC’s 911 call delivery and notification requirements are critical to public safety.” He confirmed that the agency will continue monitoring and enforcing compliance among service providers to ensure public safety is not compromised.