Tag Archives: 911services

Due to Landline Disappearance, Funding for 911 Suffers

Landline Disapperanace              

As landlines are disappearing rapidly across the US, the funding for 911 communication has drastically dropped. This has left various cities as well as countries struggling in order to maintain the old system and is forcing them to pay for different upgrades or purchases of new systems.

The director of governmental affairs for National Emergency Number Association, Trey Forgety stated “This is sort of a consequence of the structural changes the telecommunication market has gone through over the past 20 years.” The problem faced by Kentucky is worst where the government may charge some fee on landlines for the usage of 911 services, but they can’t tax cell phones. The fee collected by them from cellphone users had 20% of the total cost that was used to operate the 911 services.

The local government has now increased the landline fee in order to make up some of the difference. But this year a law has been passed for deregulating the services of landline so that the telecom companies can stop maintaining them. The local officials said that this law has paced up the loss of landline customers and has made it impossible for the rest of the customers to cope up with the cost. An AT&T spokesperson has claimed landlines have started disappearing at the speed of 8,000 per month in Kentucky even before the government had passed the law.

The Kentucky League of Cities announced that it is important for the state to raise around $32 million to cover the revenue that has been lost from landlines. They have planned to increase the cell phone fee between $1 and $1.50 per phone. Daniel Hayes, AT&T spokesperson said the company “recognizes the need for laws to keep the pace with rapidly changing technology, and we are participating in the ongoing dialogue.”