FCC fines Sprint Nextel, Alltel, U.S. Cellular over E911

The Federal Communications Commission said it plans to fine Sprint Nextel Corp., Alltel Corp. and U.S. Cellular Corp. nearly $3 million collectively for failing to meet enhanced 911 rules.
Sprint Nextel faces a $1.3 million penalty, while Alltel and U.S. Cellular are on the hook for $1 million and $500,000 fines, respectively. The FCC said all three mobile phone carriers missed the Dec. 31, 2005, deadline for ensuring 95% of their customer base could use enhanced 911 services. The benchmark applies to mobile phone carriers employing a GPS, handset-based E-911 solution.
“Sprint Nextel has made extraordinary efforts to meet the FCC mandate. In fact, due to an unforeseeable software glitch in Motorola [Inc.] handsets, we have had to do more than any other carrier to meet the FCC requirements,” said Stephanie Vinge, a spokeswoman for the No. 3 cellular carrier. “Although Sprint Nextel’s request for a limited waiver of this mandate was denied, we continued to actively convert our handset base and today we have effectively reached the handset penetration rate. As we have reported to the FCC, based on recent statistical analysis from a study in January 2007, we are at roughly 94.7% penetration today.”
Alltel denied being out of line with FCC regulations.
“First, it’s important to note that we are currently compliant with the FCC rules. While Alltel took extraordinary measures to convince our customers to swap phones, many just didn’t want to make the change,” said Andrew Moreau, a company spokesman. “We believe the FCC’s timetable for compliance may have underestimated customers’ willingness to exchange phones. Alltel and several carriers, accordingly, did not achieve compliance by the required date.”
Moreau said Alltel will have a formal response after it has studied the FCC decision. Wireless carriers can challenge proposed fines. The FCC may then decide to reduce fines, keep them intact or cancel them altogether.
U.S. Cellular did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin acknowledged the efforts of the wireless carriers to adhere to the E-911 deadline, but nonetheless said there was no excuse for missing the Dec. 31, 2005, deadline. Martin has had to scramble to respond to congressional and public-safety complaints about the accuracy of location-based E-911 for millions of consumers, and how carrier compliance is measured.
“While we recognize the efforts undertaken by the carriers, and encourage the continued efforts of all carriers to enhance these life-saving technologies and work with the public-safety community, the fines issued today are significant and appropriate,” Martin said. “Our actions today underscore the critical importance that 911 services play in the lives of the public. I continue to believe that one of the commission’s highest obligations is facilitating the ability of the public-safety community to help those in need. Effective enforcement of our E911 rules is a valuable and necessary tool in achieving this mission.”