CenturyLink Outage: 911 Disruptions Continue, FCC To Investigate

The FCC has been directed to launch an investigation after a nationwide CenturyLink outage that disrupted service for its customers across the country.

The service disruptions began Thursday and as of Friday morning, CenturyLink said its restorations efforts were still not complete. The company said engineers and technicians had identified a network element that was impacting customer services.

CenturyLink later said it discovered additional technical problems as restoration efforts were underway.

The outage knocked out 911 emergency call services in parts of western Washington state. KOMO reports that some CenturyLink customers reported receiving busy signals when dialing 911. Other areas of the country also experiencing 911 outages included parts of Missouri, Idaho and Arizona. Outages continued in Washington state as of Friday morning.

"When an emergency strikes, it's critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. "The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling."

Pai said he has directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to launch an investigation into the cause and impact of the outage.

"This inquiry will include an examination of the effect that CenturyLink's outage appears to have had on other providers' 911 services," Pai said. "I have also spoken with CenturyLink to underscore the urgency of restoring service immediately. We will continue to monitor this situation closely to ensure that consumers' access to 911 is restored as quickly as possible."

CenturyLink acknowledged Friday afternoon that there were 911 disruptions affecting various areas across the country.

Other impacts of the outage included the temporary shutdown of phone services at the Idaho Department of Correction and the state's Department of Education, The Idaho Statesman reported. Some ATM machines weren't working in Idaho and Montana.

Reporting and writing from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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