Multiple 911 emergency call centers suffered a service disruption across several states in the US for nearly two hours due to the installation of a light pole.
The Federal Communication Commission on Friday, pointed to an "unrelated" third-party installing a light pole that affected the connection line 911 calls use, hitting the states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, and Texas last Thursday.
(Photo : Andy Jacobsohn/AFP via Getty Images)
Varying reports of service outages in mobile phones and landlines were recorded throughout the states.
As of writing, the emergency call services across the four states are back to normal operations. The FCC is currently conducting further inquiry into the issue.
The FCC statement was first reported by USA Today.
Coincidentally, the service disruption was recorded amid the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which celebrates the contributions of emergency phone calls to Americans' safety.
911 Outage Highlights Issues on Emergency Call Operations
The service disruption this week marks the second instance of a major cutoff to the 911 emergency services amid growing safety concerns in the US.
Just last February, millions of Americans were unable to connect with the emergency dial after a nationwide AT&T outage that lasted for hours across several states.
Security and communication experts noted the outages as signs of a "dire need" for critical telecommunication services to be updated, especially if a mere light pole installment can cut potentially millions of people off essential emergency access.
Emergency phone calls in the US still rely on telecom networks to direct callers to emergency service operators, making it difficult to deploy personnel if the connection is cut off.
This is not to mention that many 911 call centers still use outdated technologies that are already decades old.
Also Read: AT&T Resolves Sudden Outage, Authorities Investigate
Experts Call for Modernization of 911 Calls
Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA The 9-1-1 Association, told CNBC that the incidents made it clear that Congress needs to the Next Generation 9-1-1 deployment to ease concerns on service disruptions.
The NG911 refers to the internet protocol that will supposedly replace the traditional 911 calls with newer computers and data centers to "create a faster, more resilient system" for the public to use.
While several states have already started taking steps to adapt to the protocol, support from Congress and the Senate remains lacking.
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