FCC Should Hold E-911 Location Accuracy Hearings, Adelstein Says
The FCC should hold a series of E-911 hearings before deciding whether to impose tougher location accuracy standards, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said at an E-911 Institute roundtable Thursday. “Our ultimate goal of advancing 911 may not be well served if the proceeding, regardless of how well intentioned, rushes to judgment by issuing a series of tentative conclusions without even beginning to conduct necessary due diligence,” he said. “The FCC needs to make a more collaborative approach… We need to listen to what those who are closer to the issue say.”
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Setting a “utopian standard” is not the way to improve E-911, Adelstein said. “I'm troubled that we're considering imposing a new compliance requirement that we know some carriers won’t be able to meet in certain circumstances.” That would result in a compliance debate that “will create unnecessary sideshows to the main event of improving E-911 services.” A standard should not come before it’s determined how location accuracy can actually be improved, he said. “We must be cognizant of putting deadlines in place before we even know what the standard is.”
More understanding of E-911 issues is needed before compliance deadlines can be set, representatives from companies and associations involved with E-911 said. The industry must determine what accuracy level is needed, and then how to get there, said Tim Lorello, TeleCommunication Systems chief marketing officer. It should focus on “what we have at our fingertips now” and look into how accurate current E-911 services already are before moving forward, he added.
E-911 rule makers should set compliance goals, not requirements, said Brian Fontes, federal relations vice president of AT&T Mobility. Stricter standards could better be implemented over a stretch of time than right away, said Patrick Halley, government affairs director of the National Emergency Number Association. Currently, carriers would not be able to comply with the proposed PSAP-based location in all locations, but it could in some, he said. Rule makers should set a time frame so carriers can improve location accuracy in some areas and do what’s needed to spread into other areas over time, he said. The Rural Cellular Association’s Art Prest agreed: “We can come to a single accuracy standard, but it won’t be tomorrow; it will be in the future.”