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July 21, 2008

Late Friday, APCO (The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International) and NENA (The National Emergency Number Association) said that they are willing to accept E911 compliance measurements at the county level.

Previously, the groups advocated that wireless E911 accuracy be measured at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level.

The FCC said last year that wireless carriers would need to measure the location accuracy of their E911 services at the PSAP level, rather than the broader geographical level that they had been using.

Public safety had argued that the real relevancy of the information comes at the PSAP level.

A letter to the FCC signed by APCO President Willis Carter and NENA President Ronald Boneau said "however, it looks as though the public safety community is making some sort of a compromise. “In part, this reflects the changes that are occurring in the PSAP community, as some communities are consolidating 911 centers, and others are changing PSAP geographic boundaries to match county boundaries.”

The letter went on to say "counties, unlike PSAP service areas, also reflect a stable geographic area and would be a more appropriate regulatory criteria."

In October 2007, CTIA called the FCC’s ruling “procedurally flawed” and expressed concern the action may lead to unrealistic consumer expectations. On July 17, a CTIA spokeswoman said the organization is still reviewing the APCO/NENA proposal and didn’t have any comment as of yet.

The public safety community is continuing to work with wireless operators on E911 issues, the groups said.

APCO and NENA said the FCC should maintain the current Phase II E911 metrics for 67 percent of all emergency calls, location accuracy within 50 meters for handset location solutions and 100 meters for network location solutions.

However, they also said that it may be appropriate to make adjustments to the current requirement that 95 percent of wireless E911 Phase II calls be accurate within 150 meters for handset location solutions and 300 meters for network location solutions.

In that case, the FCC will want to consider either reducing the percentage of 911 calls from 95 percent or increasing the 150/300 meter metrics, observers think.

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Source: APCO.