State UTC fines CenturyLink more than $1.3M for 911 outage
CenturyLink has been fined more than $1.3 million by Washington state regulators for their role in a two-day 911 outage that began on Dec. 27, 2018.
According to a press release Monday from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, the outage affected all Washingtonians. The commission also noted that CenturyLink violated state laws and “its actions harmed the public by failing to complete at least 13,000 911 calls” in the 50-hour timespan.
“The penalty reflects the serious and potentially life-threatening impact an outage has on ensuring that vital life-saving services are available for Washington residents,” UTC said in the news release.
The outage was the result of a “preventable technical error and network design” while CenturyLink was transitioning out of its contract to provide 911 services, according to UTC staff and the commission.
This is the second time CenturyLink has been penalized for a 911 outage.
In 2014, CenturyLink had another outage that lasted for six hours and “severely disrupted emergency services.” For that they were fined $2.8 million.
While CenturyLink was at the time responsible for providing 911 service, they are now no longer providing 911 services.
As the largest communications company in the state, CenturyLink provides services for approximately 7.4 million people.
