WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association again last week pressured the public-safety community to make firm commitments as to the deployment of enhanced 911 service.
With a looming Oct. 1 deadline that requires wireless carriers to be prepared to implement E911 service, the trade association is asking the public-safety community for explicit details about its plans. While wireless carriers are under a federal mandate to meet the deadline, public-safety agencies are governed at the local and state levels and do not have to have their networks ready by Oct.1. As was the case in the deadline for implementing the first phase of wireless 911 service, the general consensus is the second phase of E911 service likely will not be in place by Oct. 1. A number of wireless carriers already have been granted waivers from the deadline and there are questions as to how ready the estimated 6,500 public safety answering points nationwide will be on Oct. 1.
“Putting millions of location-enabled handsets into wireless customers’ hands is meaningless if the information is not usable by the PSAP. Building Phase I networks is meaningless if the wireline switch is not compatible with that information. Providing Phase II services in one county, when the adjacent county has not even deployed Phase I will confuse the public’s trust and expectations. These are very real concerns, and we are asking you, the PSAPs, to keep pace with the commitments that all wireless industry is required to honor with an enforceable set of commitments for all American PSAPs,” said CTIA President Thomas E. Wheeler.
The letter was the latest in a series of letters begun first by CTIA last month. Public-safety trade associations responded that they were offended by the tone of the June CTIA letter.
While the tenor of Wheeler’s letter last week was toned down from the June iteration, it really didn’t add anything to the discussion, commented public-safety consultant Joe Hanna. “Tom has fundamentally added detail to the initial letter,” said Hanna.
Hanna further suggested that the public-safety community not respond. “I don’t know how you can win this one. There comes a time when you have to stop trading these types of barbs.”
Both the Association of Public-Safety Communications International Inc. and the National Emergency Number Association said they were reviewing the letter.
The letter tries to put the onus on the public-safety community continuing to meet the Oct. 1 deadline.
“The lesson of Phase I is that while every switch is Phase I capable, the data it can send is either not reaching the PSAP (an issue involving companies different from the wireless carrier), or the PSAP is unable to deal with the information as it is transmitted (an issue associated with the PSAP not having done an upgrade),” said Wheeler.
CTIA also coined and added a new phrase-the Safety Divide-to the debate. “As a technical matter, Phase I is a required element of Phase II services and many of the hurdles associated with Phase II implementation can be addressed in part, by implementing Phase I. Moreover, as Phase II services begin to be deployed in some of the more sophisticated call centers, the lack of even Phase I in other areas will risk creating a `Safety Divide,’ with even more consequences than those associated with the so-called `Digital Divide,’ said Wheeler.
