Plan to make E911 service better gets mixed reviews : Public safety optimistic, industry cautious

The Federal Communications Commission agreed to improve the accuracy of locating wireless and Voice-over-Internet Protocol emergency callers, but concerns were raised over whether the agency’s long-awaited re-examination of the enhanced 911 issue inadvertently could make matters worse if cellular carriers cannot technologically comply with new guidelines in a timely manner.
The FCC last week tentatively concluded wireless carriers would have to meet location-based 911 accuracy and reliability standards at the service area level of emergency call centers known as public safety answering points, or PSAPs. The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International, dissatisfied with reliance on statewide averaging to determine E911 accuracy compliance, petitioned the FCC for the PSAP change in 2004.
“Quite simply, providing location accuracy information on a multi-state or statewide basis is not enough. It does not provide public safety with the information it needs to do its job effectively,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. “While I do not believe that it was the intent of our rules to allow statewide averaging, we are seeking brief public comment on APCO’s proposal to require location information on a PSAP-level basis.”
Public safety lauds move
Public-safety groups said it is high time the FCC tackled the festering E911 accuracy problem.
APCO recently issued a report concluding location-based wireless emergency service is not consistently reliable.
The National Emergency Number Association said E911 accuracy is especially important in light of changing consumer trends in adopting wireless and VoIP technology.
While Martin-the target of congressional criticism for halting a follow-up study on E911 challenges-has the support of public safety, he faces backlash from the cellphone industry.
“We understand and support the chairman and commission’s efforts to improve location accuracy-we share that goal. As part of that effort, we look forward to educating the commission on the state of technology, its limitations, and what can and cannot be accomplished now, and how to move forward in the future,” said Joe Farren, a spokesman for national cellphone association CTIA.
The cellular industry is subjected to a split E911 regulatory regime today. Carriers using a GPS-handset solution, like CDMA operators Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp., must locate wireless callers within 150 meters 95% of the time and 50 meters 67% of the time. Carriers that have chosen network-based triangulation for E911 have 300 meter/95% and 150 meters/67% requirements. The FCC wants to examine whether there should be one, technology-neutral standard for wireless E911 accuracy.
One problem is locating wireless 911 callers inside buildings and in rural areas. The FCC is putting its engineers on the job to see whether a hybrid technology could improve wireless 911 location.
“We’re evaluating it. We haven’t seen the actual notice of proposed rulemaking. We will evaluate it once it is issued and will do everything we need to do to comment on it and to determine what compliance levels will be necessary to meet our customers’ subscribers’ demands,” said Mike Amarosa, senior VP of public affairs at TruePosition Inc. TruePosition markets a network-based E911 product.
Industry receives support
The mobile-phone industry appears to have support from FCC member Jonathan Adelstein and an unlikely congressional figure.
At a March hearing, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) grilled Martin over E911 deficiencies and the FCC chairman’s firing of Dale Hatfield, a former telecom policy-maker and now an academic/consultant, who had been contracted by the agency to conduct a new E911 study as a follow-up to one he delivered in 2002.
Doyle said Martin now is belatedly overreaching.
“I’m glad to see that the FCC is finally acting on this problem, which was raised several years ago in the APCO petition,” said Doyle, vice chairman of the House telecom and Internet subcommittee. “My concern with the proposal is that the FCC may have gone too far in terms of what’s technologically doable today. We all want to improve the system’s local accuracy and, ultimately, save people’s lives, but overshooting our capabilities might not be the most effective way of accomplishing that goal.”
Adelstein expressed much the same view. “I am troubled that we are considering imposing a new compliance requirement that we know some carriers will be unable to meet in certain circumstances,” he said. “To make matters worse, we are bifurcating the proceeding with the goal of setting a new accuracy compliance standard well in advance of making a determination of how we can actually achieve improved location accuracy. This is premature from both legal and policy standpoints.”
The FCC is seeking comment on whether to defer enforcement of the E911 accuracy rule to give wireless carriers time to meet a new standard. Feedback is also being sought on whether wireless carriers should comply with a mandatory schedule for accuracy testing and automatically provide accuracy data to PSAPs.