Section 725.410  Telecommunications Carriers

a)         Each telecommunications carrier shall file tariffs under Section 13-900.1 of the Public Utilities Act for 9-1-1 telecommunications service to be applied to all services specific to 9-1-1 installations on the carrier's network side of the customer demarcation point.

b)         Dedicated redundant facilities should be considered to be the standard method of providing all incoming 9-1-1 facilities and, when possible, employ diverse routing.  9-1-1 circuits and facilities shall be sufficient to complete 99% of all requests for emergency services during the average busy hour of the average busy day.  In all cases, the 9-1-1 network shall be provisioned to handle a minimum of two circuits and/or simultaneous calls, and shall use dedicated, diverse and/or redundant equipment, when available, in order to increase the survivability of the 9-1-1 network.  Additionally, the Commission 9-1-1 Program Staff and/or 9-1-1 authority may, on an annual basis or in the event of a problem, request traffic studies or other documentation to verify that the standard is being met.

c)         Coin-free dialing of the digits 9-1-1 shall be provided from all coin telephones within an exchange with 9-1-1 service.

d)         The transmission grade of service on 9-1-1 facilities using inter-exchange facilities shall be at least equivalent to the transmission grade of service specified in 83 Ill. Adm. Code 730.520 or 737.440 dealing with interoffice transmission objectives.

e)         The transmission grade of service for the intra-exchange loop portion of any 9-1-1 facilities  shall be at least equivalent to the transmission grade of service specified in 83 Ill. Adm. Code 730.525 or 737.630 dealing with local loop transmission objectives.

f)         When all 9-1-1 facilities are busy in the originating central office, the switching facility, when equipped to provide the function, shall route the caller to an announcement or busy tone.  When an all trunks busy situation occurs in an intermediate switching facility, that switch shall, when equipped, route the caller to an appropriate backup or alternate answering location, announcement, or busy tone.

g)         All telecommunications carriers shall arrange for each of their switching offices to accept the 9-1-1 code.

h)         Telecommunications carrier's personnel shall notify the 9-1-1 authority a minimum of 48 hours prior to performing any planned action that could adversely affect 9-1-1 service.

i)          Each telecommunications carrier shall adopt practices to minimize the possibility of service disruption on all facilities associated with 9-1-1 service to a 9-1-1 system. These practices will provide for facility guarding at all terminations with protective devices that will minimize accidental worker caused service interruption. These practices shall also contain procedures for physical identification of all 9‑1-1 facilities with special warning tags and/or labels and identification of circuits in company records.

j)          Each telecommunications carrier shall deliver 9-1-1 service elements for the provisioning and ongoing maintenance of the 9-1-1 systems as follows:

1)         Provide database downloads and updates to the appropriate 9-1-1 system provider for each 9-1-1 system in which it has subscribers.

2)         Adhere to acceptable and agreed upon standards for database record exchange as prescribed, at a minimum, by NENA Standard Data Formats For ALI Data Exchange, MSAG & GIS.

3)         Process error corrections within 2 business days after receipt of an error report from the 9-1-1 system provider and/or 9-1-1 authority.

4)         Provision and connect its network to the appropriate 9-1-1 system provider.  Nothing in this Section prohibits a telecommunications carrier from contracting with a third party provider who may connect its network to the appropriate 9-1-1 system provider for the transport of 9-1-1 traffic. The network design must adhere to the engineering practices and default routing requirements specified in Section 725.405(i)(11) and (22).

5)         Not deliver emergency calls to operator services.

6)         Provide maintenance and repair procedures, service and repair center contact information, maintain a restoration plan and perform call trace procedures to the 9-1-1 authority.

7)         Comply and arrange for default routing requirements with the 9-1-1 system provider and the 9-1-1 authority.

8)         Maintain a list of contact numbers for notifying the appropriate 9-1-1 system in the event of an outage or failure of a 9-1-1 system.

9)           Notify a primary point of contact for the 9-1-1 authority within 15 minutes after a confirmed outage within the system and also advise the primary point of contact as to the magnitude of the outage. In addition, the telecommunications carrier must notify the Commission's 24 hour emergency outage number (217-558-6166) pursuant to 83 Ill. Adm. Code 730.550 or 737.430.

10)         Shall notify a primary point of contact with the 9-1-1 authority and the Commission's 24 hour emergency outage number (217-558-6166)  pursuant to 83 Ill. Adm. Code 730.550 or 737.734 within 30 minutes after the confirmed restoration of 9‑1-1 services.

11)        Cooperate with 9-1-1 system providers to assist in terminating split exchange traffic between 9-1-1 systems.

12)        Cooperate with 9-1-1 system providers in the installation of a new 9-1-1 system or migration of an existing 9-1-1 system to another 9-1-1 system provider.

k)        Each telecommunications carrier and interconnected VoIP provider shall adopt practices and procedures to deliver emergency calls to the appropriate 9-1-1 system provider.

(Source:  Amended at 40 Ill. Reg. 8170, effective May 25, 2016)