Charter Pays $15M In FCC Settlement After Probe Into Failure To Follow Network & 911 Outage Rules

The Federal Communications Commission says it reached a $15 million settlement with Charter Communications after the company admitted to breaking rules surrounding 911 and network outages.

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The major broadband and pay-TV operator disclosed under the terms of the settlement that it violated FCC rules that require it to notify public safety officials and the commission of disruptions in service. The investigation by the FCC Enforcement Bureau centered on three unplanned network outages and hundreds of planned, maintenance-related network outages in 2023.

“A 911 call is likely the most important call a person will ever make. Public safety officials need to be able to inform the public of alternate ways to reach emergency services in the event of an outage,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. “We’ll keep doing our part to hold communications providers accountable and ensure the public has reliable 911 service.”

In one case, Charter failed to notify more than 1,000 emergency call centers of a service disruption affecting 911 service and it also did not comply with the commission’s outage reporting rules. The company will pay a $15 million civil penalty and implement a robust compliance plan, including cybersecurity provisions, to ensure network resiliency and future adherence to the commission’s 911 and network reporting rules.

Charter has agreed to maintain and evolve its overall cybersecurity risk management program in accordance with a voluntary set of guidelines, and other applicable industry standards and best practices. It also pledged to abide by state and/or federal laws covering cybersecurity risk management and governance practices, the FCC said.

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“The Enforcement Bureau takes any potential violations of the 911 rules extremely seriously, including outage notification requirements,” said Loyaan A. Egal, chief of the Enforcement Bureau. “We will continue working to ensure that communications providers abide by these critical public safety rules and to ensure that cybersecurity measures are implemented to provide resiliency to critical infrastructure communications networks and services.”

The FCC’s rules require providers like Charter to notify 911 call centers as soon as possible of outages longer than 30 minutes that could affect the call centers. Providers are also required to file by certain FCC deadlines when outages reach a certain severity threshold.

One of the three network outages, the one experienced on February 19, 2023, was the result of a minor denial-of-service attack, according to investigators.

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