On June 24, APCO filed a formal opposition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding a petition from the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) asking the FCC to alter service providers’ obligations to notify ECCs of network outages. Under the FCC’s rules, service providers are required to notify ECCs of network outages and degradations that meet specific thresholds. While the ATIS petition focuses on other elements of the FCC’s rules, ATIS asks the FCC to excuse service providers from their obligation to notify 9-1-1 centers of network outages during major disasters when they are required to file outage reports to the FCC. APCO opposed this request on the grounds that the outage notifications made to ECCs provide more timely situational awareness than the reports to the FCC and are thus more useful for 9-1-1 professionals.
