Washington, D.C. –The Federal Communications Commission today adopted rules requiring text
messaging providers to enable Americans to text 911 in an emergency. Building on commitments made by
America’s four largest wireless carriers to support text-to-911 by May 2014, the new rules will ensure that
all remaining wireless carriers and certain IP-based text application providers are prepared to support text-
to-911 by the end of the year. After that time, if a 911 call center requests text-to-911, text messaging
providers will have six months to deploy the service in that area.
