FCC Unanimously Approves NPRM to Improve 911, Order to Begin Toll-Free Number Auctions

The NPRM is intended to implement two recently enacted laws, including Kari's Law. It requires multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) to allow users to dial 911 directly without having to dial extra digits (such as "9"), and contains notification requirements to ensure first responders can enter buildings, said a release, which said proposed rules would "provide clarity and specificity." The notice proposes to require MLTS systems to be preconfigured, installed and operated to ensure direct dialing, with Feb. 20, 2020 the compliance date, said Brenda Boykin, a Public Safety Bureau attorney.

Ray Baum's Act requires the FCC to consider adopting dispatchable-location rules to ensure emergency call centers automatically receive accurate and precise information on a caller's location, regardless of technology. Proposed rules would cover MLTS, fixed phone service, interconnected VoIP services and telecom relay services, said Boykin. She said the NPRM seeks comment on whether other 911-capable services should be covered, but it doesn't propose new rules for commercial mobile wireless services, which already have certain requirements. It would also consolidate all 911 rules under one rule part. At a news briefing afterward, bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes said the final NPRM contained "a few nonsubstantive changes" from a draft.

The meeting heard from Hank Hunt, who has pushed for direct-dialing laws. Kari's Law was named after his daughter, who died in 2013 after being attacked in a motel room by her estranged husband and after her young daughter was unable to make a 911 call because of a dialing prefix. Hunt lauded Chairman Ajit Pai for his efforts and noted it had been 1,761 days since his daughter died. "I'm tired of counting days," he said, noting he looked forward to direct dialing being implemented more broadly.

Commissioners praised and thanked Hunt. "For nearly five years, I’ve had the honor of working alongside Hank Hunt," said Chairman Ajit Pai. "From my first talk with him in December 2013 -- just a few weeks after his daughter was murdered -- to our most recent in-person conversation -- after the president of the United States signed legislation bearing his late daughter’s name -- he has been a model of courage." Separately, there was bipartisan backing for the proposed 911 Fee Integrity Act and other telecom public-safety bills at a House panel hearing (see 1809260062).

The toll-free number order authorizes the FCC to hold auctions of numbers, starting with 17,000 "mutually exclusive" numbers in the recently opened 833 code. Commissioners said auctions would improve the allocation process by delivering numbers to parties that value them the most, rather than to those who currently receive them under a first-come, first-served basis. The order also authorizes a secondary market for the numbers originally assigned by auction, and use of auction revenue to help defray the cost of toll-free number administration, said a release.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel thanked her colleagues for making two changes to a draft. One institutes an audit after the 833 auction. The other expands the order's number-reservation rights from government entities to nonprofits operating toll-free hotlines for public health and safety.

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly would have gone further "by extending market-based principles to the assignment of the auctioneer role itself," rather than choosing Somos. "While Somos may be competent to administer the toll-free numbering database, managing an auction is an entirely different skill set," he said. "Without any concrete analysis of Somos’ costs of running the auction submitted to the record, we run the risk of undermining the auction’s financial success and creating uncertainty in Somos’ future tariff filings." He also would have preferred multiple-round bidding to assist "price discovery, value maximization and bidder flexibility."

In other FCC meeting news, commissioners voted on party lines for some 5G small-cell streamlining, unanimously approved consolidating rules for earth stations in motion and eliminating Form 325 submitted by cable operators, and approved two robocall enforcement actions: 1809260029. Rosenworcel voiced concern on Trump administration's tariffs: 1809260029; the agency continues moving toward citizens broadband radio service band rules: 1809260029; and staff overviewed a USF auction: 1809260029. Outside the meeting, ex-commissioners and others protested planned Lifeline changes 1809260029.