WASHINGTON-Cellular operators last week overwhelmingly opposed a revised consumer-group proposal to route 911 analog calls to the cellular carrier most likely to complete the call, but it remains unclear whether carriers are ready to embrace a new Telecommunications Industry Association plan to handle emergency calls with automatic A/B roaming.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which urged the Federal Communications Commission in written comments last week to reject strongest-signal and adequate-signal proposals of the Ad Hoc Alliance for Public Access to 911, endorsed TIA’s automatic A/B roaming approach.
“The industry is beyond agreeing with anything, whether it makes sense or not,” said Jim Conran, chairman of the San Francisco-based alliance.
Conran said CTIA refuses to cooperate on 911 wireless call completion. CTIA says the alliance is uncooperative.
Audiovox mobile phones perform the A/B roaming function today, scanning the preferred carrier and then the non-preferred cellular carrier when the caller cannot get a signal for 911 from the preferred carrier.
The FCC, which could not be reached for comment, is said to be close to a decision.
AT&T Wireless Services Inc., the largest U.S. mobile phone company and CTIA’s biggest member, supports the TIA proposal.
But other cellular carriers, like Ameritech Mobile Communications, BellSouth Corp., United States Cellular Corp., SBC Wireless Inc. and AirTouch Communications Inc. largely were silent on the A/B roaming scheme in written comments, choosing instead to criticize alliance proposals as technically flawed.
For sure, implementing the alliance’s proposal or even TIA’s A/B scheme could hurt the industry’s case for antenna siting. Moreover, CTIA has indicated it is not enamored with any approach based on patented technology.
Some carriers contend the alliance’s proposals would actually hurt 911 in the long run by causing problems for call-back and position-location technology of enhanced 911.
“If adopted, the alliance proposal would increase the potential liability faced by analog cellular carriers for not transmitting calls, while increasing the costs borne by equipment manufacturers without providing any assurance that benefits will accrue to end users attempting to make 911 calls,” said Ameritech Mobile.
Bell Atlantic Mobile, which also did not address the TIA proposal, touted a plan of its own similar to automatic A/B roaming.
Tim Ayers, a CTIA spokesman, said CTIA’s endorsement of the TIA recommendation was not based on a census of members but rather on the best data available at the time it filed its comments.
It is unclear how the latest cellular show of disdain for strongest-signal and adequate-signal proposals will impact decision making at the FCC. FCC Chairman Bill Kennard has said he is interested in alternative proposals that accomplish 911 call completion but will not tolerate a long delay in getting a solution in place.
