HOUSE PANEL QUESTIONS WHETHER WIRELESS E911 DEADLINE WILL BE MET

Markey cited tough decisions that lie ahead for obtaining more 3G spectrum from military users or educational institutions, including Catholic Church. “Is it time for us to start looking at mobile satellite services [MSS]?” he asked. Original “vision” was that companies such as Iridium and Globalstar would be using MSS bands for services. “They are not,” he said, citing financial problems they had encountered. Markey questioned whether it was time to recommend MSS spectrum as alternative to reallocating bands held by military at 1.7 GHz or educators at 2.5 GHz. FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue said CTIA teed up question of using MSS bands for terrestrial wireless services before agency in recent petition. “I certainly hope that we can address it pretty promptly because it is a pressing issue,” Sugrue said. Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) also stressed importance of 3G decisions, saying he was exploring legislation on how to get more spectrum for 3G along with Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.), Rep. Upton (R-Mich.), Markey. “We need to put everything on the table from satellites to the Pentagon, except for education and the Catholic Church,” he said, evoking laughter.

On E911 issue, VoiceStream, which received interim waiver from Commission last fall for accuracy requirements of Phase 2 (CD Sept 11 p1), and U.S. Cellular were only 2 carriers represented on panel. AT&T Wireless and Nextel are among companies that have waiver requests pending at FCC, and Cingular Wireless executives have signaled that few in industry are likely to be ready by deadline. VoiceStream Senior Mgr.-Regulatory Affairs for 911 James Nixon cautioned lawmakers that based on current state of technology, commercial deployment could begin in late 2002 or early 2003. “The technology is not yet ready for full national commercial deployment, and the vast majority of public safety agencies and their 911 networks are not close to being ready to receive and use wireless 911 information,” Nixon testified: “A rushed deployment could waste hundreds of millions of dollars, without actually delivering a workable wireless E911 system.” He called for tests leading to “thoughtful” national implementation schedule. U.S. Cellular Network Operations Vp Steve Clark criticized FCC for moving away from 1996 consensus agreement between public safety and wireless providers, with rural carriers particularly affected by elimination of carrier cost recovery requirements. “The FCC has completely abandoned the original acknowledgment that the costs and complexities of meeting location requirements would be higher in rural America,” Clark said. Because switch software applications needed for network and handset Phase 2 solutions won’t be available until late in 4th quarter, he said that would make Oct. deadline impossible to meet with that technology, he said.

Asked by Rep. Eshoo (D-Cal.) which carriers appeared to be most prepared to meet deadline, Sugrue said Commission hadn’t heard anything from Sprint or Verizon on possibility of waiver. “Until this hearing, I would have added VoiceStream,” he said. He emphasized that deployment of Phase 2, which provides reporting of location of 911 caller within at least 100 m, will not be “flash- cut” process. With handset-based solutions, for example, he said carriers must hit progressively higher penetration levels for location-capable handsets until they reach 95% by end of 2005. Network-based technologies must deploy hardware and software in 6- 18-month period after PSAP request for service is received, he said. Sugrue said no waiver request pending before Commission would affect ultimate implementation of Phase 2 deadline, but that requests were based on near-term rollouts. “These requests are expected to come in over the next few years as PSAPs become ready to utilize Phase 2 services at different points in time,” he testified.

Speaking to reporters after hearing, Sugrue reiterated that first interest of Commission is in flexible and cooperative ways to ensure E911 deployment. “But at the end of the day, enforcement is certainly a possibility” if deadline is missed, he said. “We have been in consultation with the Enforcement Bureau on this,” he said, and it’s high wireless priority for that bureau. One way that delayed implementation could become issue at FCC after Oct. 1 would be if PSAP made request for Phase 2 service and carrier informed 911 center it wasn’t ready. “We could also initiate an investigation ourselves,” Sugrue said, saying bureau wasn’t limited to waiting for such complaints. “We are also committed to enforcement of our rules if, for example, parties simply ignore their obligations or fail to make good-faith efforts to comply,” Sugrue said in testimony. He told panel that bureau was particularly interested in pressing largest 6 wireless carriers to complete their compliance plans because on combined basis they served 75% of U.S.

Public safety community is “deeply troubled” by waiver requests that FCC has received so far, said Steve Souder, administrator of Arlington County, Va., 911 Emergency Communications Center. He testified on behalf of Assn. of Public- Safety Communications Officials (APCO), National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), National Assn. of State 911 Administrators. Groups also are concerned about carriers that appear poised to seek waivers of location accuracy requirements, although they haven’t done so yet. One problem is that 110 million wireless handsets in U.S. today produce 120,000 calls to 911 daily. Most of those phones don’t yet have access to E911 capabilities, “leaving PSAPs in the dark regarding location of 40 to 50% of their 911 callers,” he said. “We are regressing in our ability to provide quality of service to communities rather than progressing.” NENA and APCO are expected to release, as early as next month, report card assessing readiness of PSAPs to receive E911 information. About 20-30% of PSAPs have reached point where they can receive Phase 1 information, which requires cell site location of caller to be identified, Sugrue said.

Meanwhile, Upton, who called issue “one of the most compelling” to come before his panel this year, sent letter Thurs. to CTIA Pres. Thomas Wheeler calling for “immediate interim solution” that group could help to broker. Upton said he was interested in improving communication between carriers and PSAPs. He wants information on what types of centralized information wireless carriers make available to 911 centers seeking information on location of E-911 call. In letter this week to Upton, Wheeler underscored industry’s support for fostering cooperation with the public safety community. He said carriers had spent millions of dollars on the technological challenges involving E-911: “But the reality is that this process is requiring additional time to deliver solutions that meet the FCC’s ambitious requirements.”

Among challenges that repeatedly emerged at hearing were jurisdictional issues, including how callers who roamed were handled on different networks in some cases. Others raised funding issue, with only handful of states having enacted cost recovery legislation to reimburse PSAP upgrades. Rep. McCarthy (D-Mo.) voiced concerns about extent to which carriers were sharing information on technology implementation to expedite rollout of services. U.S. Cellular’s Clark particularly stressed difficulties faced by rural carriers, for which network-based solutions are largely not feasible option. Rural carriers typically don’t have high enough cell density to allow triangulation among sites to locate caller, he said.