PSC Opens Investigations Into 911 Outages

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PSC OPENS INVESTIGATIONS INTO 911 OUTAGES

Lincoln, September 12, 2023- On Tuesday, September 12, the
Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) opened separate
investigations into recent 911 outages involving telecommunication
carriers Lumen (911-075/PI 248) and Windstream (911-076/PI 249).

“The disruptions in 911 service that occurred in these two separate
incidents is unacceptable,”said Commission Chair Dan Watermeier.
“The Commission expects 911 service providers to maintain diverse
and redundant connections between 911centers and their networks.”

Determining why the outage resulted in the loss of 911 service over
such a wide area of Nebraska will be essential to the Lumen
investigation (911-075/PI 248).

A primary focus of the Windstream investigation (911-076/PI 249)
will be to determine why a fire and loss of electrical power at a single
Windstream facility resulted in a disruption of 911 service to a large
portion of southeast Nebraska.

In both investigations the Commission seeks an explanation as to
why the redundancy required of both telecommunications carriers
failed and a solution to prevent this from happening again.

Commissioner Watermeier said, “The highest level of service is
expected and required of our 911 service providers. There are no
exceptions.” ###

Contact:
Deb Collins- Communications & Media Mgr.
(402) 471-0226 /deb.collins@nebraska.gov