WASHINGTON-From the beginning, the stickiest issue with the implementation of wireless enhanced 911 has been who would pay for what and when.
This issue has come to the forefront again as wireless carriers urged the Federal Communications Commission on Sept. 18 to reject a proposal from King County, Wash., that wireless carriers bear most of the costs of E911 Phase I.
Under Phase I, a call-back number and cell-site information is delivered to a public safety answering point when a caller dials 911 from a wireless phone. Many jurisdictions have wireline E911 which provides the PSAP with a call-back number and the address from which the call is placed.
The implementation deadline for Phase I was April 1, 1998, but deployment did not really get underway until the FCC last year removed the requirement that cost-recovery mechanisms for carriers be in place.
Under the new rules established by the FCC last year, carriers have six months to deploy Phase I services after receiving a request from a PSAP.
Following adoption of the FCC new rules, King County sent request letters to carriers in its area to request E911 Phase I service.
The response it received was less than encouraging with carriers insisting that the PSAP, in this case King County, had to upgrade its network before the wireless carrier would be able to deploy E911 Phase I.
One carrier, Sprint PCS, suggested that if it chose not to upgrade its network but rather to contract a vendor service that it would be willing to sell it such a service.
“If your 911 system has not been upgraded to directly receive the information and you require a third party provided database for interfacing between Sprint PCS and your 911 system, to achieve the capability of receiving and using the Phase I data, additional costs will be incurred by your agency. … Sprint PCS also offers a product which provides these additional database services [for a] monthly recurring charge of $0.065 per active Sprint PCS subscriber with a billing address within your agency’s service area,” said Rebecca Hund of Sprint PCS E911 implementation in a letter to King County.
In frustration, King County turned to the FCC in May urging it to say that carriers are responsible for all costs associated with getting the E911 data to the PSAP.
In comments filed on the letter on Sept. 18, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association urged the FCC to do nothing and let wireless carriers and PSAPs negotiate agreements on their own.
“Before the [FCC] becomes involved in E911 Phase I network and database component funding issues, every effort should be made to let the parties resolve their differences locally through private negotiations,” said CTIA.
If the FCC must make a bright-line distinction, CTIA said, it should say the demarcation point is at the wireless trunk. “PSAPs must pay for upgrades and facilities required to receive and utilize the data elements associated with the service,” said CTIA.
In other 911 news, the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials has asked the FCC to reconsider its decision to allow VoiceStream Wireless Corp. to implement its hybrid system for Phase II which requires carriers to give more exact location information than simple cell site.
