FCC rules on E-911 spark broad debates

The Federal Communications Commission took dramatic steps to improve the location accuracy of wireless 911 service, but the mobile-phone industry and some telecom regulators complained the agency was taking action before the completion of FCC studies on emergency calling.
The agency clarified that cellular carriers must meet enhanced 911 location accuracy requirements at the public-safety answering point service-area level, directing them to meet interim and annual benchmarks over the next five years to ensure full compliance by Sept. 11, 2011. Public-safety groups aggressively lobbied for PSAP-level E-911 compliance to remove confusion over wireless carriers’ embrace of statewide-averaging to meet FCC requirements.
“Meeting location accuracy standards on average in the entire state of New York by providing enhanced 911 capability in Manhattan does not help first responders in Buffalo,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
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 locate emergency callers anywhere between 50 meters and 300 meters, depending on whether GPS handset or network-based E-911 technology is used. The FCC has slapped fines on a number of national mobile phone operators in recent years for failure to meet E-911 obligations.
“APCO is pleased that the FCC has taken this critically important step to improve the location accuracy of our nation’s wireless 911 calls,” said Willis Carter, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International.
But the cellular industry and several FCC members, including those who voted for the changes, voiced concern 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.
“In addition to today’s item being procedurally flawed, I am concerned that the commission’s action may lead to unrealistic-and potentially harmful-consumer expectations,” said Steve Largent, president of cellular industry association CTIA. “I had hoped the Commission would move forward in a collaborative effort involving experts from industry, public safety, and government. I am sorry to see that is not the case.”
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein dissented in part from the decision, taking aim at the regulatory process underlying the E-911 decision. Adelstein, one of two Democrats on the five-member, GOP-led FCC, seemed to direct much of his anger at Martin for failing to circulate a draft order until just days before the vote.
“So I am disappointed that we are not conducting this proceeding in a more thoughtful and deliberate manner to ensure that the steps we take truly advance E-911. As I said in the response to the underlying [proposal], no one will be well served by a proceeding that inevitably draws affected parties into unnecessary disputes and legal uncertainties,” Adelstein stated. “That only distracts all of us from the real objective of improved E-911. It is unfortunate that we move forward today on compliance details that do not leverage the expertise of industry and public safety, and ignores the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council VII’s recommendation on improving delivery of E-911 location accuracy information. Nor do we leverage the work of APCO’s Project Locate or other studies in our determinations. The majority has blindly pushed wireless carriers off the edge with the possibility of offering a parachute some time in the future when the second portion of this proceeding is completed.”
Commission Michael Copps, the other FCC Democrat, was more tempered in remarks about moving forward on E-911.
“I had hoped that these studies would be available before I was called upon to vote on a framework for adjusting the FCC’s accuracy standards. . Unfortunately, those studies are not before us today, even as we have an item that adopts the specific compliance benchmarks suggested to us in recent days by the two leading public-safety organizations,” Copps said. “In a more perfect world, we would have the additional time necessary to develop a fuller factual record before reaching a decision. But I also recognize that any technical issue can always benefit from additional study and that any important decision contains a degree of legal risk. The simple truth is that public-safety officials and the wireless industry are rarely going to agree about the appropriate timeframe for developing and implementing new and expensive technologies. Faced with a choice between the concerns of industry and the suggestions of the public-safety community, I think the right answer is to forge ahead with a set of aggressive-but I believe achievable-benchmarks.”
Commissioner Robert McDowell voted for the E-911 rule changes, but acknowledged the FCC may be getting ahead of itself. McDowell said in recent months “a broad array of entities-wireless service providers, technology vendors and public safety-have told us that we are not yet in a position to devise a plan for rolling out a system of improved wireless E-911 location accuracy. I hope that these predictions turn out to be incorrect. Ideally, I would have preferred that the commission complete its own in-house testing and verification prior to our implementing benchmarks that may be unachievable at best, or, inefficient.”
The National Emergency Number weighed in on the issue also.
“We live in a world of rapidly changing communications in which consumers increasingly rely on their wireless device. In fact, according to the wireless industry, approximately 13% of households do not have a wireline phone. Cellphones can certainly be a life saving tool with nearly 100 million wireless 911 calls being made annually, more than half of all 911 calls in some areas,” said NENA President Jason Barbour ENP, 911 director for Johnston County, N.C. “However, when a caller is unable to describe their location during an emergency, the ability of a 911 call taker to provide help is often only as good as the location information provided with the call. It is therefore essential that steps be taken to improve the accuracy of wireless 911 calls.
“Last night’s decision by the FCC is a very important step in the right direction.”
The winners and losers in industry remain unclear.
“Although eventually we believe the mandate will benefit certain network infrastructure and handset providers who will supply the upgrades, at this point even they are opposing the new mandates, in part no doubt because they are being good soldiers for the companies, but also because of the uncertainty about compliance,” said telecom analysts at Stifel, Nicoloaus & Co. Inc. “We believe the most likely beneficiaries of yesterday’s ruling are the companies that will develop new technical solutions for compliance. We note that only a few privately held companies, including Polaris Wireless and True Position Inc., have supported the FCC’s new rules.”