FCC Hits Three Carriers with Forfeitures for E-911 Failures
The FCC Thursday hit Sprint Nextel, Alltel and U.S. Cellular with forfeitures totaling $2.825 million for failing to meet a Dec. 31, 2005, deadline to have 95 percent of their subscribers have location-capable handsets for E-911 calls. The fines were as expected. In January, the FCC denied the carriers’ requests for waivers, referring their cases to the Enforcement Bureau.
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“Ensuring that E-911 service meets the needs of public safety and the expectations of the American people is a top priority of mine and of the Commission,” Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement accompanying the orders. Martin said the three had been put on notice, as had other carriers utilizing a handset-based E-911 solution, that the FCC was serious about the 2005 deadline. “Alltel, Sprint Nextel, and U.S. Cellular failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the Commission and the needs of their consumers,” he said. “While we recognize the efforts undertaken by the carriers, and encourage the continued efforts of all carriers to enhance these life-saving technologies and work with the public safety community, the fines issued today are significant and appropriate.”
Sprint was hit hardest, with a notice of apparent liability of $1.32 million. The order noted that the carrier conceded it had penetration of only 81.3 percent at deadline. The fine was the maximum allowable.
Sprint Nextel and Nextel Partners behaved in ways that “were insufficient and ineffective and their filings lacked a clear path to full compliance with the handset penetration requirement,” the order said. Sprint’s relative size, with 53.1 million subscribers at the end of 2006 and more than $41 billion revenue, figured in the fine’s size.
U.S. Cellular was fined $500,000; Alltel, $1 million. U.S. Cellular drew the smallest penalty thanks to its relative size and the fact that once it did begin working at compliance in late 2005 “it showed an aggressive and innovative set of efforts, as well as significant expenditures relative to its customer and revenue bases,” the order said. While “laudable and important,” these efforts taken after the deadline did not mitigate the violation, the order said.