A three hour-long E911 outage in Washington state April 10 will be investigated by the state Utilities and Transportation Commission, the UTC said. “We recognize this outage could have had serious implications for people and emergency responders across the state,” said David Danner, UTC chairman, in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1tfu755). “Our investigation will look into the cause of the outage, (CenturyLink’s) emergency preparedness and response, restoration efforts, and communication with the public.” Enhanced 911 services began experiencing interruptions in Washington around 1 a.m. Thursday, April 10. CenturyLink said that E911 service was been fully restored statewide later that morning, the ETC said. CenturyLink said in a statement that about 4,500 911 calls failed during the outage between 12:36 a.m and 6:26 a.m. “The outage was due to a technical error in a third-party vendor’s call router, which prevented the system from properly processing calls,” the carrier said. “CenturyLink and its vendor partner have taken steps to implement an enhanced monitoring process and have addressed the router issue.” The outage occurred across 127 public safety answering points. “CenturyLink’s top priority is customer safety and reliable communications,” said Brian Stading, Northwest Region president. “We are working closely with our vendor partner to fully to understand this outage. At this time, we are confident that the 9-1-1 system is fully operational and stable."

The defeat of 911 funding bills in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Mississippi this year has left those in charge of operating emergency services worried about aging equipment, and wondering how to fund upgrades for next-generation 911 (NG-911), even as they struggle to pay for current-generation systems. The bills were among at least six nationwide that sought additional funding to make up for a decline in 911 fees collected from the dwindling number of landline customers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency weighed in on an FCC public notice (CD March 13 p10) asking whether the commission should make broadcasters switch to a “designated hitter” system to send emergency alert system (EAS) messages in languages other than English when the foreign-language station is off-air. A one-paragraph FEMA comment posted Wednesday in docket 04-296, 26 days before initial responses are due to the Public Safety Bureau request (CD March 31 p15), backed the Minority Media and Telecommunication Council’s work to extend EAS warnings to those who don’t speak English. FEMA cautioned that using text-to-speech (TTS) technology to send such non-English warnings of bad weather, natural disasters and other events has “limitations.” A designated hitter approach would have stations in the same market of one that’s off-air distribute alerts in the language used by the knocked-out broadcaster.

Competitive providers and state public utility commissions raised several concerns about AT&T’s IP transition wire center trials, in comments posted by the FCC Tuesday. CLECs said AT&T hadn’t addressed their concerns about wholesale access when the copper is removed, nor described its proposal (CD March 3 p3) in sufficient detail. State regulators questioned how the IP services in the proposed wire center trials would work with 911 and battery power, and said the trials shouldn’t spur any permanent policy changes on the IP transition until AT&T addresses those deficiencies. Other ILECs supported the proposal. AT&T has asked to do time-division multiplexing-to-IP trials in Carbon Hill, Ala., and Kings Point, Fla.

On Capitol Hill Thursday, public safety officials and Democratic senators urged the FCC to kick off a proceeding setting standards for wireless 911 location standards while industry representatives struck a cautious note. Hill pressure surrounding this issue has risen over the past half year, with members of Congress in both chambers writing to the FCC last fall expressing concern following a summer CalNENA report indicating poor wireless location accuracy. The Find Me 911 Coalition has beat the drum with advertisements, a Hill briefing and other efforts to raise awareness for what it deems a problem.

Apple settled an FTC complaint that the company let children spend millions of dollars on in-app purchases without parental consent, said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez during a Wednesday news conference. CEO Tim Cook said the complaint “smacked of double jeopardy” since the company had already faced a civil lawsuit over the issue and taken steps to address it. Industry representatives said in interviews that the FTC’s actions simply push Apple to adhere to existing industry best practices. But privacy advocates and some lawmakers applauded the action, saying it raised awareness about a growing issue of concern as children spend more time with mobile apps.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler backs a draft proposal to authorize cellphone use on airplanes in-flight, in prepared testimony for a Thursday House Communications Subcommittee oversight hearing. “I do not want the person in the seat next to me yapping at 35,000 feet any more than anyone else,” Wheeler plans to tell Congress (http://1.usa.gov/1bWwJOQ). “But we are not the Federal Courtesy Commission.”

The FCC established a pleading schedule Wednesday on Verizon Wireless’s proposed buy of AWS-1 licenses from Stelera Wireless, which filed for Chapter 11 bamkruptcy relief in July. The deal would give Verizon 10-40 megahertz of spectrum in 114 counties covering parts or all of 19 cellular market areas in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas, the Wireless Bureau said. “Post- transaction, Verizon Wireless would hold 87-132 megahertz of spectrum in these CMAs, 20-50 megahertz of which is AWS-1 spectrum,” said a public notice (http://bit.ly/1aq6QDH). “According to the Applicants, the proposed assignments will serve the public interest because they will provide Verizon Wireless with additional spectrum capacity, which will enable it to meet the demands of its customers for Long-Term Evolution in the markets.” Petitions to deny are due Nov. 27, oppositions Dec. 9 and replies Dec. 16.

NAB views reply comments by CTIA on proposed rules for an auction of AWS-3 spectrum as all the assurance it needs CTIA is no longer pushing to reallocate 15 MHz of Broadcast Auxiliary Service spectrum for wireless broadband, Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan told us Tuesday. As a result, broadcaster discussions with the Department of Defense on possible sharing in the BAS band are back on, Kaplan said.

Beleaguered Alaskan telco Adak Eagle Enterprises, whose requests for waiver of the FCC’s new Universal Service Fund rules have been roundly denied by the Wireline and Wireless bureaus (CD July 17 p14), pleaded with the commission to reconsider. In a filing Wednesday the company and subsidiary Windy City Cellular characterized themselves as “tiny companies that worked tirelessly against the odds” to offer phone service in the Alaskan wilderness “when no one else would” (http://bit.ly/1hcWStf). They urged the agency to stop its ceaseless requests for more supplemental information, which have ravaged the carriers: “The FCC is now on the verge of completely destroying the companies.” The Alaskan congressional delegation sent a letter to acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn last week warning of the harm that could befall the Adak community if the commission lets its decision stand.