The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) and National Assn. of ...

Dec. adopted a further notice to study whether mobile satellite service operators, multiline phone systems, IP telephony providers, telematics operators and others should have to meet Enhanced 911 mandates. Several filings in the initial round of comments urged the FCC to exercise care before expanding basic and E911 rules beyond the wireless operators now covered. NENA and NASNA acknowledged in reply comments filed this week that the rollout of E911 Phase 1 and 2 was a “complex task.” They said: “If we fail to look ahead to new services and products offering the promise or expectation of emergency calling and response, we risk discrediting 911 and inhibiting its use in conventional and wireless telephony.” The threshold question for whether a service is covered under 1999 legislation on 911 is whether it meets the law’s application of 911 obligations to wireless and wireline service, the groups said. “We must be forward- looking and address telematics as an E911 issue before it becomes a crisis for the 911 community,” NENA and NASNA said. “Assuring a well-designed interface of telematics with E911 should be a Commission priority.” In earlier comments, some automakers told the FCC that privately run call centers associated with services such as OnStar were well equipped for emergency communications. NENA and NASNA said there were “cost-effective” ways to further integrate telematics call center operations with public safety networks for handing off emergency calls initially received by private call centers. The groups said the record before the FCC was “mixed” on who should bear responsibility for ensuring E911 access vis resale, prepaid calling and disposable phones. “We apply to these and to other new and emerging services the fundamental principle that any reasonable facsimile of basic wire or wireless calling should be presumed capable of Enhanced 911 access, with the provider bearing the burden of showing why that presumption cannot or should not be met,” the groups said.