WASHINGTON-Only 24 states told congressional investigations that they plan to meet the 2005 deadline for wireless enhanced 911 Phase II deployment.
“Implementation of wireless E911 is several years away in many states, raising the prospect of piecemeal availability of this service across the country for an indefinite number of years to come,” said the General Accounting Office in a report released on Wednesday.
The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that wireless carriers be ready to deliver Phase II-precise-location information to public-safety answering points by Dec. 31, 2005. It is estimated the implmentation will cost $8 billion over the next five years.
In other 911 action, the FCC on Thursday declined to mandate specific rules for telematic 911 calls and 911 calls from multi-tenant buildings. The commission did require that mobile satellite service carriers set up 911 call centers but did not at this time require them to deploy Phase II technology.
The rules drew sharp criticism from the mobile-phone industry, which has been struggling to deploy Phase II technology by the 2005 deadline.
“Today’s wireless products come in many shapes and sizes, and may be sold by any number of retailers. Yet, only the phones sold directly by wireless licensees are required to locate callers when they dial 911 in an emergency,” said Steve Largent, president and chief executive officer of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. “Certainly, it makes sense that any device capable of dialing 911 should also be capable of delivering location information to emergency responders.”
CTIA added that it does not support the expansion of E911 rules to emerging technologies, where the burden of a new and expensive mandate might reduce innovation.
