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July 28, 2008

Various public-safety groups, which in 2007 successively persuaded federal regulators to adopt a stricter, more enhanced 911 location accuracy standard, now say the rule is unworkable and should be replaced with a more lenient one.

They also told the FCC that previously approved E-911 guidelines should be relaxed, but it doesn't appear that new concessions will disturb legal challenges to the agency’s latest E-911 changes.

What's more, they even recommended a waiver process be established to address cases in which wireless carriers cannot technically meet modified location accuracy requirements in every county.

“We have previously advocated that wireless E-911 accuracy should be measured at the PSAP (public safety answering point) level.

We are now willing to accept compliance measurements at the county level,” stated Association of Public-Safety Communications International President Willis Carter and National Emergency Number Association President Ronald Boneau in a letter to FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief Derek Poarch.

The public-safety organizations’ change in posture on E-911 rules comes about three months after NENA hired Brian Fontes — a former FCC policymaker who managed federal regulatory affairs at cellular industry association CTIA, Cingular Wireless and AT&T Mobility — to fill its new CEO position.

Carter and Boneau said the policy shift was prompted in part by changes in the PSAP community, such as consolidation of 911 centers and changes to PSAP geographic boundaries to match county boundaries. There are approximately 6,000 PSAPs in the United States.

Cellular operators must regularly locate emergency callers anywhere between 50 meters and 300 meters of their actual position, depending on the type of E-911 technology they use.

The FCC has fined a number of national wireless operators in recent years for failure to meet E-911 obligations.

APCO and NENA said there is room to relax those E-911 provisions, explaining that measuring location accuracy in specific counties is particularly difficult for many wireless providers because of variations in geography and systems.

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Source: The FCC.