WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed fining T-Mobile USA US$1.25 million for not providing wireless enhanced 911 (E911) Phase I within six months of a request. The fine represents more than 450 requests.
“We believe that the factors cited above, particularly the very large number of unfulfilled Phase I requests, the fact that each unfulfilled Phase I request is a separate continuing violation, the public-safety nature of the violations and the fact that T-Mobile is a large company with substantial revenues, justify a substantial proposed forfeiture. We also believe, however, that the proposed forfeiture amount should take into account the fact that T-Mobile brought its violations of the Phase I rules to the [FCC’s] attention in May 2002,” said the commission.
E911 service is being deployed in two phases. Phase I required carriers to supply public-safety answering points (PSAP) with a callback number and cell-site location information. The deadline was 1 April, 1998, or six months from a PSAP request.
Phase II is more detailed location information and not at issue in this case. T-Mobile has requested and received a waiver from its Phase II obligations. “T-Mobile never even requested a waiver or other relief from the Phase I rules,” said the FCC.
The FCC’s Notice of Apparent Liability sets out the number of violations of which the agency believes T-Mobile is guilty. The saga started last May when T-Mobile met with FCC staff and admitted to not meeting Phase I deadlines. In October, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau sent a letter of investigation seeking specific information on the reason for the delay of each request.
“We are not convinced, based on the sketchy and conclusory information provided by T-Mobile that all of these 170 PSAPs are not currently ready to receive and utilize Phase I location information. Further, although T-Mobile asserted that some of the remaining 191 PSAP requests have been subject to delays outside its control, based on the sketchy and conclusory evidence provided by T-Mobile, we are likewise not convinced that all of the delays cited by T-Mobile are in fact outside of its control,” said the FCC.
“T-Mobile has worked closely with the FCC on its E911 Phase I implementation plan and voluntarily came to the FCC to discuss its inventory of Phase I requests. T-Mobile already has deployed E911 Phase I to 768 PSAPs and has a deployment plan in place to fulfill all currently pending valid Phase I requests by October 2003, with the majority of such requests completed by July 2003. These numbers reflect significant progress in T-Mobile fulfilling its inventory of E911 Phase I requests since last year,” said Bob Calaff, T-Mobile senior corporate counsel of governmental and industry affairs.
T-Mobile has 30 days to formally respond to the FCC.
