A series of 911 service outages in Nebraska involving telecommunications carrier Windstream have resulted in a new department complaint from the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC).
PSC began investigating after three separate service disruptions which occurred in September & November of 2023, and January of 2024. The Commission conducted data requests, held a public hearing, and sought analysis from an outside expert on network infrastructure specifically in the area of 911 network requirements.
“Through our investigation we have determined that violations of Commission regulations may have occurred,” said Commission Chair Dan Watermeier. “The complaint, provides the Commission the ability to hold the carrier accountable through punitive actions.”
The complaint allows the Commission to assert its authority under Nebraska law to issue punitive sanctions which may include assessing administrative fines for violation of Commission regulations. A hearing date on the Windstream complaint has been scheduled for August 27 & 28, 2024.
“Our investigation confirmed that during the outages the ESInet and Core Services which are key components of the Next Generation 911 system remained fully functional,” said Dave Sankey, PSC 911 Department Director. “It was the ability of the carrier to deliver the calls to the interconnection points that was impacted.”
Watermeier said the public must have accountability from telecommunications carriers in providing a redundant system capable of delivering 911 calls no matter the situation.
Lincoln Police say Verizon is experiencing difficulties delivering calls to the Lincoln Emergency Communications Center today, unrelated to Windstream.
“We are advising anyone who has a Version cellphone that needs to reach police, call the non-emergency number at 402-441-6000 as opposed to 911 to make sure they can get through to our dispatch center,” said Public Information Officer Erika Thomas on Wednesday morning.