FCC Leans Hard on Dobson over E-911
The FCC issued a $750,000 notice of apparent liability for forfeiture against Dobson Cellular and American Cellular on accusations of “willfully and repeatedly” violating FCC rules requiring the carrier to provide E-911 service within 6 months of a valid request by a PSAP. Both carriers are subsidiaries of Oklahoma City-based Dobson Communications.
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Dobson could get the FCC to cut what is in effect a fine. By FCC standards $750,000 is a hefty punishment. “This is a pretty significant fine, especially since Dobson is not a huge company,” said one regulatory source.
The FCC was acting on a 2005 complaint by the 911 State Administrator for the Mich. State Police that Dobson lagged in providing E-911 phase I and phase II service to 2 Mich. PSAPs and E-911 phase II service to 12 PSAPs. The FCC also cited Dobson over problems providing E-911 service to PSAPs in 50 incidents in other states.
“A substantial proposed forfeiture is warranted,” the Enforcement Bureau said: “The violations here are egregious. Violations of E911 requirements are extremely serious, given the critical function these requirements serve in promoting and safeguarding life and property… [A] substantial proposed forfeiture is warranted based on the continuous and repeated nature of the violations. In this regard, we take into account the substantial number of violations and the fact that a number of the violations involved valid PSAP requests that had been pending for as long as 2 or 3 years.”
In 9 instances, Dobson was slow to provide E-911 phase I service, though Phase I requirements “have been in effect for over 7 years,” the Bureau said. In levying the penalty it weighed Dobson’s relatively large size -- it’s a midsized carrier with more than 1.5 million customers in 16 states, it said.
Dobson admitted it failed to “adequately anticipate the enormous technical effort that would be required to deploy E-911 phase II in a relatively short time to satisfy so many requests due on the same date,” the Enforcement Bureau said Dobson blamed “vendor failures in terms of key equipment,” the Bureau said. Dobson officials couldn’t be reached for immediate comment.