Sprint Fined $1.2M In 911 Outage Role

It looks like justice has been served somewhat in this particular case where mobile carrier Sprint has been slapped with a fine amounting to $1.2 million (which is a pittance, really, when you look at how large the organization is) because of the 911 outage incident. Basically, if you happen to be a hard of hearing Sprint customer and dialled 911 anytime between March and September last year, chances are your captioned telephone service failed to work.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has hit Sprint with a $1,175,000 fine for the outage incident, since the system that Sprint uses is supposed to provide a person with captions to read whenever such a call was made, since it is a rather integral segment of the emergency calling process.

Sprint offers this particular service for free for hard-of-hearing customers as they have received assistance from federal subsidies, and it seems that Sprint themselves were unaware of the problem – for a good five months at the very least, and 10 months at most. In fact, Sprint even requested reimbursement for the service even when it was not working.

Travis LeBlanc, FCC enforcement bureau chief shared, “All Americans must be able to reach 911 in an emergency. Today’s settlements reaffirm our commitment to ensure that the hard of hearing community has essential 911 service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not only are we fining these companies for failing to provide this vital services, but we are assuring that they provide it going forward.”

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Sprint