Appeals court freezes FCC ruling on E-911

A federal appeals court blocked the Federal Communications Commission’s new enhanced 911 location accuracy rule from going into effect, possibly setting the stage for the court to overturn the agency’s 2007 decision.
The Rural Cellular Association and T-Mobile USA Inc. challenged on substantive and procedural grounds last year’s FCC ruling, which directed mobile-phone operators to comply with the various benchmarks over the next several years.
“We need not address the substantive issue, however, because the movants [RCA and T-Mobile] have demonstrated a likelihood of success based on the order’s procedural irregularities — in particular, the serious problems with the notice. Because the other requirements for a stay are also satisfied, the motions for stay are granted,” stated the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The FCC last year clarified that cellular carriers must meet E-911 location accuracy requirements at the public-safety answering point service-area level, as public-safety groups had requested. Wireless service providers prefer state-wide averaging to determine compliance with E-911 location accuracy standards. But their grievances with the FCC’s E-911 location accuracy ruling go much deeper.
In last September’s decision, the FCC ordered operators to meet interim and annual benchmarks during the next five years to ensure full compliance by Sept. 11, 2012. The first deadline was originally Sept. 11, 2008. Angry wireless carriers — national and rural alike — protested, filing challenges at the FCC and federal appeals court.
“RCA is pleased that the court agreed that there are serious procedural problems with the revised rule that set new compliance deadlines and reporting requirements that are not supported by the record,” the group stated. “While RCA members will continue to work on improvements in E911 location accuracy they should not be expected to perform the impossible or to go broke trying.”
The FCC earlier this month extended the first deadline six months to March 11, 2009. The deadline applies to a rule requiring wireless licensees to meet testing and measurement standards for wireless location accuracy in each economic area in which a carrier operates.
“We will comply with the court’s order and continue to work with public safety and the wireless industry to ensure that the public can get help in times of emergency,” said Clyde Ensslin, an FCC spokesman. “Today, people are increasingly relying on cellphones for more and more of their calls — including their calls to 911. We remain committed to making sure first responders receive meaningful information to find 911 callers quickly and reliably.”
The cellular industry and some FCC members voiced concerns at that time about the government effectively imposing a new E-911 regime without considering a range of factors. Such factors include forthcoming findings in commission reports on the possibility of mandating a hybrid technical solution and a single wireless accuracy standard; whether to require carriers to report the height as well as the latitude and longitude of E-911 calls; and how to require carriers to measure and report compliance with the standards.
The FCC, cellular carriers and the public-safety community have been struggling to improve wireless E-911 for more than a decade, a situation complicated by technological capability, local and state budgets and shifting trends that have Americans increasingly making mobile phones their primary communications devices. Cellular operators today must accurately locate emergency callers anywhere between 50 meters and 300 meters of their actual position, depending on whether GPS handset or network-based E-911 technology is used. The FCC has fined a number of national operators in recent years for failure to meet E-911 obligations.
The E-911 location accuracy debate has gained urgency with findings that current technology may be inadequate to pin-point the many emergency calls made from indoors and in rural areas.