FCC Fines Charter $15 Million Over 911, Network Outage Reporting Violations

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2024  – The Federal Communications Commission today said it reached a $15 million settlement with Charter Communications following an investigation by the agency’s Enforcement Bureau into the company's compliance with 911 and network outage notification rules. 

Charter admitted to violating FCC regulations by failing to notify public safety officials and the FCC about unplanned and maintenance-related network outages that occurred last year.

The violations included three unplanned network outages and hundreds of planned, maintenance-related outages, which Charter failed to report properly.

One particularly concerning incident, the FCC said, involved a failure to notify more than 1,000 emergency call centers of a service disruption that impacted 911 services. The lack of notification prevented public safety officials from informing the public about alternative ways to reach emergency services.

"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," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. 

Charter issued a statement, saying: “We’re glad to have resolved these issues, which will primarily result in Charter reporting certain planned maintenance to the FCC.”

Charter was the second largest ISP with 30.4 million subscribers as of June 30. It also had 7.4 million voice and 8.8 million mobile lines in service at the end of the second quarter.

The FCC said "it was determined that Charter’s network was the target of a minor Denial of Service (DoS) attack" during a Feb. 19, 2023 network outage – or an attempt by an unnamed actor to disrupt the normal operation of Charter’s network.

“The fine has nothing to do with cybersecurity violations and is attributable solely to administrative notifications," Charter’s statement said.