GROUPS TELL FCC FUTURE TALKS POSSIBLE ON E911 RULES FOR PBXs

In a Nov. order, the Commission broadened some E911 requirements, including a mandate that certain mobile satellite service (MSS) providers must create call centers for routing emergency calls. Instead of adopting national rules for MLTS, the FCC urged states to use model legislation adopted by public safety groups, and planned to evaluate this fall the progress states have made. Several commissioners expressed concern about the lack of progress in E911 access for PBX systems, noting that a phone in a large company’s MLTS could be anywhere in the country, creating a dilemma for emergency responders seeking to pinpoint a 911 caller. The Commission also recently asked the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council to examine MLTS-related E911 issues.

“I urge you, if we can bring you a consensus agreement that set in place the deployment of enhanced wireless 911 for the country, I believe we can bring you a consensus and a recommendation if we can get these parties back together,” said Intrado Vp Mary Boyd. Boyd chaired a working group of associations, manufacturers, large telecom users and public safety answering points that reached an agreement on E911 capability for PBX systems that later fell apart. Boyd stressed she understood the concerns of large business users that technology solutions be considered beyond automatic number identification/automatic location identification systems. She noted public safety providers and others have been working on the PBX issue for more than 20 years. “We've got a void in this issue today,” she said.

National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) Legal Counsel Jim Hobson said the 1996-97 negotiations on MLTS requirements and subsequent NENA model legislation both provided industry alternatives for providing emergency response. Hobson said there was no reason to expect that alternatives for emergency response wouldn’t be part of future agreements. Of the possibility of renewed negotiations on MLTS requirements, Colleen Boothby, an attorney representing the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, said: “There’s never a reason not to pursue them going forward.” Boothby noted that a previous agreement on E911 requirements for PBX systems fell apart after some participants backed away from the plan.

“I certainly think everyone at the Commission -- I know I am -- is sympathetic to the Commission trying to do something further to try to address the issue,” said FCC Comr. Martin. He added the FCC must consider its authority. The Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee has argued states have clear purview over MLTS rules, while the FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction to write rules for MLTS owners and operators. Public safety groups have disagreed, urging the FCC to expand the scope of E911 requirements to include PBX systems.

Boothby said Wed. the advantage of E911 requirements for MLTS systems being overseen by an agency other than the FCC is that regulators with a broader workplace perspective could focus on technologies beyond telecom. But in Q&A, Robert Gurss, dir.-legal & govt. affairs for the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), said he has concerns about leaving implementation up to agencies such as OSHA that focus on workplace safety. “The issues that we are talking about aren’t really workplace safety issues; they're public safety issues,” he said.

Jim Beutelspacher, Minn. 911 program manager, said the FCC had opened a docket on wireless E911 issues and MLTS challenges at the same time. Since then, local, state and federal policy-makers have made significant strides on wireless E911 access, he said: “We're just about there with wireless and we're not nearly that close on PBX issues.” Other concerns that surfaced at the coordination initiative meeting involved the impact of different states taking slightly different regulatory approaches to PBX E911 rules if the FCC doesn’t step in.