WASHINGTON-The Rural Cellular Association told the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau last week that the Federal Communications Commission in a recent report to Congress underestimated and poorly reflected the efforts of Tier III wireless carriers to implement wireless enhanced 911 Phase II.
“With the small number of Tier III service providers close to 166, not 390, there are a comparatively small number of separately owned Tier III carriers providing service in the United States,” wrote RCA counsel David Nace. “In any event, the number `10′ as the group of Tier III carriers currently providing Phase II service to at least one public-safety answering point understates the situation, based upon industry data that has been collected by RCA. RCA is aware of no fewer than 24 Tier III carriers that provide Phase II data that is used by PSAPs to locate E911 callers. That is a significantly different number in view of information reported by the National Emergency Number Association that only about 40 percent of the PSAPs nationwide are capable of receiving Phase II data. RCA believes that percentage to be considerably lower in rural areas where most Tier III carriers operate.”
The wireless bureau said the letter was just filed, and the bureau is looking at it.
RCA also said the wireless bureau should expect more waivers of the E911 Phase II rules.
“In some cases, waiver requests will be filed to allow more time for deployment of Phase II service where the carrier has not found an effective means to meet a current deadline,” said Nace.
NENA said Tier III carriers need to do more.
“We would rather see results than waivers. It appears that a number of Tier III carriers are only interested in waivers and editing FCC reports instead of working with the 911 community in their area,” said Stephen Seitz, NENA government affairs director.
In a report to Congress in March, the FCC told lawmakers it had granted 32 whole or partial waivers for rural wireless carrier Phase II obligations. The FCC denied or dismissed eight other requests.
The waiver requests, which had been pending for an average of 461 days, were the first major wireless actions taken under new FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. The 32 waivers continue a trend of granting rural carriers relief from E911 obligations. According to the report, the FCC has granted 175 whole or partial waivers during the past nine years. The commission has denied or dismissed nine other requests.
In addition to reporting on the status of the Tier III waiver requests, the FCC also attempted to educate Congress on wireless and E911 technology and the interplay between air interfaces and carrier circumstances. It describes the various air interfaces and the differences among handset, network and hybrid solutions for meeting the E911 Phase II mandate. It also describes the advantages and disadvantages of each.
E911 service is being deployed in two phases.
Phase I required carriers to supply PSAPs with a callback number and cell-site location information. The initial deadline was April 1, 1998, or six months after receipt of a valid PSAP request, whichever is later.
Phase II requires more precise location information. It was supposed to be available in some areas by Oct. 1, 2001, but the FCC waived that requirement, giving each nationwide carrier a different implementation schedule. All carriers employing a handset-based location solution must ensure that 95 percent of their subscribers have location-capable handsets by 2006 and must fully deploy Phase II in any particular area within six months of receiving a valid PSAP request. Carriers employing a network-based location solution must deploy Phase II to 50 percent of a PSAP’s area within six months after receiving a valid request, and must finish deploying in the PSAP’s area within 18 months. In Phase II deployments, network-based solutions must be able to locate the caller within 100 meters 67 percent of the time and within 300 meters 95 percent of the time.
Handset-based solutions must be able to locate the caller within 50 meters 67 percent of the time and within 150 meters 95 percent of the time. The wireless bureau said in January that it expects that by the end of the year, 95 percent of the handsets used by customers of carriers that have chosen the handset solution will comply with the FCC’s rules.
E911 deployment began in 1994, but did not gain momentum until recently. While nationwide carriers are making progress, rural carriers complain it has been a more difficult process for them.
Rural carriers have noted that a GSM handset solution will not be available to meet the deadline, and a network-based solution is impractical because triangulation is often difficult as towers are placed in a “string-of-pearls” fashion along highways. Many rural carriers have said they are tied to upgrading to GSM technology due to roaming agreements.
