WIRELESS CARRIERS REPORT PHASE II PROGRESS
Wireless carriers reported they are making continued progress in rolling out Phase II of Enhanced 911 services, though some carriers warn that problems remain with many PSAPs still struggling to adopt the enhanced technologies.
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“Despite successful Phase II deployments in numerous areas such as the District of Columbia; New Orleans; N.Y.C.; Miami , Fla.; Houston; King County, Wash.; Denver, Colo., the vast majority of PSAPs throughout the country are not ready to receive and use [automatic location information (ALI)] because of factors some of which are outside a PSAP’s direct control, e.g. lack of local, state and federal funding as well as a lack of E911 coordination bodies,” Nextel said in comments to the FCC. “Given the status quo, the majority of PSAPs in the country likely will not be prepared to receive or use ALI in the foreseeable future.”
Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it had deployed Phase II service to an additional 143 public safety answering points during the quarter to bring its total to 1,162. The number was slightly higher than for the previous 2 quarters, when it deployed to 112 and 128 PSAPs, respectively. That rate shows a steady gain from 887 PSAPs with Phase II deployment in Aug.
Cingular said the company had received 551 requests for Phase II service on its TDMA networks and was able to deploy to 452 with 87 in progress. But Cingular said that “readiness” problems were complicating efforts by PSAPs to complete testing of their systems. Cingular noted that of the 452 PSAPs, 73, or 16%, are still not ready to accept Phase II data.
Sprint said it deployed an additional 124 Phase II PSAPs during the quarter to bring its total to 699. But Sprint also said that problems remain. “Phase II deployment continues to face substantial challenges from areas outside of Sprint control,” the carrier noted: “Many [local exchange carriers] are still unable to pass Phase II data to their PSAPs or are awaiting further cost recovery mechanisms before they permit Phase II services to be employed. Likewise, many PSAPs face funding or other obstacles in deployment that prevent the service from being deployed in their jurisdictions.”