WASHINGTON-According to a new order adopted last week by the Federal Communications Commission, public safety answering points (PSAPs) have the next year to develop a system that accepts 911 emergency calls from cellular, broadband personal communications services and wide-area specialized mobile radio users-without delays due to validation or credit checks-as long as the equipment transmits a mobile identification number.
PSAPs also will have the discretion to relay emergency calls-including those made by phones with no MIN-to wireless carriers without checks of any kind. Tenets of the order were based on a consensus agreement that was presented to the commission earlier this year by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and several public-safety groups.
The FCC’s 911/enhanced 911 order also requires wireless carriers to begin developing a call-back feature and a cell-site location mechanism within the same 12 months, with completion scheduled within 18 months. If PSAPs require them to do so, carriers will have five years to develop and install a triangulation-like location feature that will pinpoint a wireless caller within a 125-meter radius in 67 percent of all cases. Costs for the buildout and administration of enhanced 911 features will be addressed by state and local jurisdictions.
Peter Wolfe of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau told the panel that 65 percent of all wireless users cite safety as the chief reason they own a wireless device.
Commissioners took turns congratulating CTIA and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who had introduced legislation in the House March 28 that would bar any carrier from blocking 911 access and who had taken a special interest in the FCC’s work on this docket.
“The FCC made the right call on cellular access to 911,” Eshoo said in a written statement. “No one should be blocked from reaching emergency assistance with their cell phones. The new FCC policy on 911 will provide most cellular phone users with the security they assumed they were getting when they bought cellular phones in the first place.”
Wireless associations were quick to respond to the 911 decision. Harking back to the FCC’s request for consumer-education guidelines, CTIA President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Wheeler said, “This has always been part of our mission and I will pledge today that we will redouble our efforts in this regard.”
While praising the FCC’s action on the surface, the American Mobile Telecommunications Association has some concerns about how small wide-area SMRs will cope with the new 911/E911 mandates. Alan Shark, president and CEO, said, “On the surface, it appears that all SMRs operating systems on a geographic basis are subject to the same requirements as those providing nationwide service to a mass market*…*However, it is AMTA’s understanding from the commission that its subsequent report and order will include a definition that attempts to discriminate between business-to-business SMRs and the SMRs offering nationwide, mass-market service.”
