Public safety groups aren’t too concerned about Verizon Wireless ...
Public safety groups aren’t too concerned about Verizon Wireless request for waiver of the FCC’s Dec. 31 deadline to achieve 95% penetration of location-capable handsets among its subscribers. But they say the FCC should scrutinize a similar request by…
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Nextel Partners. Verizon Wireless has said it would come close to meeting the 95% requirement but will need up to an additional 6 months to cross the threshold. “Verizon Wireless appears to have made significant efforts to meet its E-911 obligations, and those efforts should be given appropriate consideration in the Commission’s review of its waiver request,” APCO said. But it said “Nextel Partners poses a very different scenario,” because it’s “not even close to meeting the 95% requirement.” APCO said Nextel Partner’s “results for the iDEN network are extremely troubling and require close scrutiny by the Commission.” NENA said Verizon Wireless and Nextel Partners based their requests in part on lagging PSAP readiness to receive and use Phase II wireless caller location information and based their assertions on outdated statistics. It said the most recent data shows 78% of PSAPs have some Phase I capability and 52.6% Phase II. NENA said that “based on Verizon’s reported efforts and its near-achievement of the 95% threshold,” it has “no objection” to the waiver, provided that quarterly reporting continues. But it said if relief is granted to Nextel Partners, “it should be for only a year, to December 31, 2006, with the possibility of extension if quarterly reports show acceptable levels of conversion efforts.” Nextel Partners sought the relief until Dec. 31, 2007, but NENA said “excluding the glitch phones, if Partners could effect 1% conversion per month, they would reach 95% before the end of 2006.” CTIA supported Verizon Wireless petition and urged the FCC to suspend the ALI-capable handset penetration deadline for all similarly situated wireless carriers whose digital wireless activations are 100% location-capable at year- end.