Public Safety Opposes Blanket E-911 Waiver

CTIA and RCA asked the FCC in a joint petition to suspend the handset penetration rule for carriers that have location-capable all new digital handsets activated. They said lower-than-expected churn and the lack of PSAP readiness would make it impossible for many carriers to meet the deadline. Alternatively, the association offered the FCC criteria it could use in considering individual carriers’ waiver requests. Sprint Nextel, Alltel, Verizon Wireless and Nextel Partners also filed individual waiver requests, and Fri. was the deadline for comments on requests by Sprint Nextel and Alltel. Comments on petitions by Verizon Wireless and Nextel Partners are due Nov. 4, replies Nov. 14.

Blanket relief from the rule would be “tantamount to a repeal of Section 20.18(g)(1)(v), despite the fact that some carriers will meet, or come very close to meeting, the requirement,” APCO said. For example, it said, Sprint Nextel said in the waiver Sprint’s previously separately owned CDMA network expects to meet the Dec. 31 deadline. “Suspending the requirement would send exactly the wrong message to carriers and the public,” APCO said. APCO supported a case-by-case waiver consideration but said some of the criteria proposed by CTIA and RCA “do not warrant substantial consideration in the Commission’s analysis.” For example, CTIA/RCA asked the FCC to consider lower-than-expected churn, but APCO said that “should not be a significant factor” because “low churn rates should have led carriers to take more aggressive affirmative steps to encourage existing customers to acquire new handsets.”

NENA said a framework to evaluate waivers by individual carriers, as suggested by CTIA/RCA, “may serve the public interest so long as waiver grants are accompanied by new and firm deadlines.” During the extension periods, it said, quarterly reports of progress toward the penetration goal must continue. In no case, it said, should a deadline waiver be more than a year, to Dec. 31, 2006.

While agreeing with petitioners that the lack of PSAP readiness is an issue in many areas, NENA said it was “not a valid reason to suggest that customers should not or would not upgrade their handsets.” It said 8 states have 100% of counties that are Phase II ready, and 20 states have at least 60% of counties whose PSAPs implemented Phase II. Another 12 states fall into the 20-60% of counties prepared to receive Phase II data, NENA said: “Even when a PSAP serving a customer’s home area is not Phase II ready, many areas in which that customer will use his/her phone will, in fact be able to receive Phase II data.” NENA questioned whether Phase II capability in PSAPs was the “primary hurdle” stumbling carriers’ efforts to get consumers to replace older handsets: “We invite carriers to prove us wrong by showing that penetration rates are far lower in PSAP jurisdictions that are not Phase II-ready.”

NENA said it wouldn’t object to a deadline suspension for Alltel, “provided it has met all the conditions in the 2002 order to stay except the 2005 penetration condition.” Alltel seeks a deadline extension until June 30, 2007 due to low churn rates, reluctance of low-volume and rural subscribers to upgrade their handsets and the lack of PSAP Phase II readiness. But NENA said it was “somewhat conflicted” about the Sprint Nextel request that the deadline for handsets operating on Nextel’s iDEN networks be extended 2 years due to difficulties the carrier has had converting customers to GPS-enabled devices on its integrated iDEN network. “NENA is not much inclined to credit ’the extraordinary steps to reflash units affected by software glitch,” it said: “These problems may not amount to fault or blame, but neither is the response to them worthy of any particular praise.”

CTIA backed Alltel and Sprint Nextel’s petitions. “Contrary to the Commission’s assumptions regarding churn and handset replacement, it has become clear that the majority of carriers will be unable to satisfy the 95% penetration threshold by the end of this year,” CTIA said: “Notwithstanding promotional campaigns and other carrier efforts, a greater than anticipated percentage of wireless consumers have demonstrated their reluctance to exchange their non-location capable handsets.”

Motorola, which manufactures handsets for Sprint Nextel’s iDEN network, backed Sprint Nextel request, saying there was “good cause for the waiver.” It said the FCC shouldn’t punish the carrier for a latent software defect that in the summer, 2004, disabled GPS functionality in millions of iDEN devices already on Nextel network. “This situation is similar to a broken ‘9’ key or a broken antenna in the sense that any of these things could prevent a phone from being able to complete an E-911 call or provide location information,” Motorola said: “Such a post-introduction incident should not be counted against the carrier, when the phone had full E-911 location capability as sold to the user.” Motorola said all affected phones, whether they have been reflashed by the users or not, should be included as compliant phones in calculating the 95% penetration.

NTCA urged the FCC to grant the CTIA/RCA request and place Tier III wireless carriers on the same footing as Tier I and II carriers regarding the 95% location compatibility compliance deadline. “Forcing consumers to exchange their outdated handsets for location-capable handsets is an industry-wide problem that is preventing many carriers, small and large, from achieving the Commission’s 95% compliance benchmark on time,” it said.

FCC Declines to Grant E-911 Waiver to Tier III Carriers

The FCC decided not to grant a request for relief from its E-911 Phase II requirements filed by Key Communications and Keystone Wireless, Tier III providers operating GSM networks in W.Va. and Pa., respectively. But it gave the petitioners additional time to demonstrate a “clear path to full compliance” with the E-911 Phase II rules. “Without further action on the waiver request, the deadline for compliance with the E-911 Phase II requirements will be July 21, 2006,” the FCC said in an order.

“The precedential value of the decision is that it suggests that the Commissions will have a very stringent approach to compliance with E-911,” a source said. The FCC is working to address a number of requests for waiver of the Commission’s rules requiring that wireless licensees using a handset-based solution have 95% penetration among their subscribers of location-capable handsets by Dec. 31. “We reiterate that any party seeking a waiver of the our E-911 rules must demonstrate a clear path to full compliance,” the order said.

The FCC also imposed conditions and reporting requirements on Key and Keystone so it can monitor progress toward compliance. For example, it said each petitioner must: (1) File within 30 days a status report of the current requests for Phase II service and “efforts to secure extensions or agreements to alternative deployment schedules from each of the PSAPs.” (2) File status reports every Feb. 1, May 1, Aug. 1 and Nov. 1 for 2 years on the number of Phase I and II requests received from PSAPs and the status of those requests, the anticipated date on which Phase II service will be available, and progress made in constructing new cell sites and expanding wireless service coverage.