State regulators filed a settlement agreement Thursday with CenturyLink requiring the company to pay a fine of more than $2.8 million for a 911 outage in 2014.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State regulators filed a settlement agreement Thursday with CenturyLink requiring the company to pay a fine of more than $2.8 million for a 911 outage in 2014.
In February, the commission filed a complaint against CenturyLink following an investigation into an April 2014 outage that disrupted state-wide emergency services for six hours. Calls placed from land lines, cellphones and Internet-based telephones were affected.
The $2.8 million figure in the settlement was reduced from $2.9 million based on a recalculation of the number of uncompleted calls. The company will also regularly report to the commission on 911 circuit reliability and transition to a more advanced 911 system.
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff said in a news release that they and CenturyLink representatives have signed the agreement.
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Officials with the state attorney general’s office said Thursday they were involved in negotiations but oppose the settlement. Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in an emailed statement that the agreement doesn’t reflect the severity of potential harm to Washington residents because of the loss of the critical service.
The three-member commission will determine whether to accept, reject or modify the agreement.