WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission rejected L.M. Ericsson’s wireless 911 call-completion plan as deficient, but gave the Swedish phone manufacturer a three-month extension to comply with new rules that kicked in Feb. 13.
The FCC said that while new 911 wireless rules encourage innovation and flexibility, it “did not, however, permit manufacturers to use any method that they believe will satisfy these principles.”
The commission said it was troubled by Ericsson’s request for a compliance extension two days before the Feb. 13 deadline, but nonetheless decided it was in the public interest to give Ericsson more time to improve its 911 call-completion capability.
The Feb. 10 ruling follows by just weeks an FCC decision to give Finland-based Nokia Oy, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, a four-month extension to meet new 911 call-completion guidelines.
New federal rules require new analog mobile phones and multimode phones that operate in the analog mode to be capable of completing 911 calls to either analog carrier in an area, regardless of the programming of the handset for non-911 calls.
In addition, the FCC requires handsets using the A/B Roaming Intelligent Retry call-completion method be switched to the other analog carrier if the call is not successfully delivered to the wireline carrier within 17 seconds. The FCC allows carriers to choose from a menu of three 911 call-processing modes.
The FCC is also leaning on carriers to improve 911 call-completion for digital phones.
While most of the 84 million mobile phones in the United States use analog technology, digital phones are selling at a faster clip than analog phones these days.
The Ericsson proposal that was turned down by the FCC had support from the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Nokia.
The Wireless Consumer’s Alliance opposed Ericsson’s and Nokia’s 911 call-completion plans, saying neither meets FCC requirements.
WCA President Carl Hilliard said he plans to challenge the Nokia 911 ruling, and has contracted with a lab to test phones for compliance with new 911 call-completion rules.
Hilliard said he would petition the FCC to fine and/or revoke equipment approvals of manufacturers that do not meet new 911 call-completion regulations.
