FCC Takes Cell-Phone Companies To Task Over 911 Failings
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Federal Communications Commission Friday said it will pursue enforcement action against Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and two other cell-phone companies for failing to meet a deadline ensuring customers are covered by the 911 emergency system.
In a statement on its Web site, the regulator said that it is denying eight request for waivers for the Dec. 31, 2005 deadline and that it was referring three companies to its enforcement bureau.
"It is amply clear that the measures Sprint Nextel took in the past or promises for the future fall short of satisfying the Commission's criteria for waiver of the December 31, 2005 deadline," the FCC said.
The FCC said it will also refer Alltel, United States Cellular and Nextel Partners, a former standalone subsidiary of Nextel before it merged with Sprint, to enforcement over a failure to meet the implementation deadline.
It said it wouldn't pursue enforcement action against the other companies, including cell-phone giant Verizon Wireless, because they are much further along to meeting the requirements.
FCC rules stated that wireless companies had to have 95% of their customers on the 911 system, which allows emergency operators to locate callers in the event of an emergency situation, by the end of 2005.
A decision in the waiver applications has been pending for more than a year.
In the case of Sprint Nextel, as of May 31, 2006, it had signed up only 86% of its customers to the 911 system. The FCC said this effort was "insufficient."
The companies involved in potential enforcement action face maximum potential fines of $97,500. Sprint Nextel shares were recently trading down 2.1% to $19.23, and Alltel shares were up 6 cents to $61.97. U.S. Cellular Corp. is privately owned.
No one from Sprint Nextel or Alltel was immediately available to comment.
-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637; corey.boles@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 6th January 2007
