‘Hundreds of Companies’ Want FCC to Pull Back on Tough E-911 Deadline
Pressure continues to mount on the FCC for major changes in an order that would give carriers a year to meet E-911 location accuracy standards at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level. The order, on circulation with members, is set for a vote Tuesday. The agency should “proceed prudently” and appoint an expert group to look at the future of wireless E-911 before imposing new standards, said a large group representing carriers and equipment makers, filing an ex parte letter on behalf of “hundreds of companies.”
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“It is prudent to convene a group of subject matter experts to review the state of E911 location accuracy technology, and to investigate what can and should be done going forward,” the letter said. “A timely, speedy, and thorough investigation of the technical feasibility, implementation and deployment of any new solutions will best serve the public interest, and will keep the focus of this proceeding on moving forward with new and improved solutions.”
Meanwhile, AT&T filed ex parte letters on meetings last week with commissioners and their staffs on what sources say was the carrier’s request for five years to revamp its system to handle wireless E-911 calls before it comes under tough new standards for measuring success in locating callers (CD Sept 7 p1). The filings don’t give details on the proposal.
Robert Quinn, senior vice president for regulatory policy at AT&T Services, said in the letters that “if the Commission were to require carriers to comply with that new [measurement] standard it should set the effective date far enough in the future to make the goal achievable.” The FCC “allowed five years for handset replacement previously” and carriers “would likely need at least that much if handset replacement was required to achieve location accuracy at the PSAP level,” he said.
T-Mobile filed a declaration by two of its top network engineers backing the carrier’s claims that PSAP-level compliance with FCC standards is not possible now or in the foreseeable future. The statement said even a hybrid approach linking a network-based and handset-based E-911 solution won’t provide perfect results.
“Not only do both technologies have areas where they are strong and weak, in some cases both technologies have difficulties in the same locations,” the filing said. For example, a handset at the bottom of a rural canyon or in a wooded area may not be able to determine a GPS location estimate, and may not be able to get a well triangulated network-based location estimate because cell sites may be widely dispersed or have a “string of-pearls” configuration. Urban and indoor settings present similar challenges, the filing said.