Neb. PSC Opens 911 Outage Probes

The Nebraska Public Service Commission will investigate why required redundancy failed in Lumen and Windstream’s back-to-back 911 outages (see 2309050015), the PSC said Tuesday. The commission voted 5-0 to launch the probes. “The disruptions in 911 service that occurred in these two separate incidents is unacceptable,” said Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier. “The Commission expects 911 service providers to maintain diverse and redundant connections between 911 centers and their networks.” The PSC will ask in docket 911-075 why the Lumen fiber cuts led to a statewide outage, said one order Tuesday. In the Windstream probe, the agency will look into why a fire and power loss at one facility resulted in 911 disruptions over a large part of southeast Nebraska, said a separate order in docket 911-076. Windstream stands "ready to engage constructively" with the Nebraska PSC, a spokesperson said. Lumen didn't comment by our deadline.