Carriers Contradict Public Safety on Need for 911 Rule Change

NENA and APCO, expected to answer carriers in reply comments, didn’t file in the initial comment round. Carriers and public safety virtually have flip-flopped positions. When the FCC requirement was imposed in 1996, public safety sought the change, while carriers resisted.

PSAPs face myriad prank 911 calls made on non-service initialized (NSI) phones (CD March 5 p5), often by teens aware that calls on old cellphones can’t be traced, the safety groups have said. Tennessee PSAPs reported receiving more than 10,000 fraudulent 911 calls from NSI devices in 90 days.

“Carriers had to invest both time and money to basically reverse-engineer their networks not to validate these calls and to process the calls,” said a wireless industry source. “The network is now set up in accordance with the FCC mandate.” A second concern, which carriers share, is that as they open networks they will have trouble figuring out which calls to block. “We're moving into a world where carriers won’t know what customers are doing on their network,” the source said. “They're providing a network, not applications.”

Changing the rules to block calls on old phones “would confuse and endanger consumers who have been informed they can call 911 from NSI phones; could delay 911 call transmissions from all phones; and would risk exposing carriers to civil liability in numerous states,” CTIA told the FCC. “Further, it would be difficult to implement such rules in a way that would not block legitimate calls or allow fraudulent calls, or lead to other unintended consequences.”

CTIA reminded the FCC that in 1996 many carriers warned of risks if they were required to forward all 911 calls to PSAPs. A year later, the FCC specifically rejected requests by carriers they be able to block calls from discarded phones. Carriers “in particular warned that the rule could lead to an increase in fraudulent or non-emergency 911 calls,” CTIA said. Safety groups “have not provided a basis for revising the Commission’s prior conclusions or the public’s expectations,” it said.

The FCC should proceed with caution, said AT&T Mobility, the largest U.S. wireless carrier. “Blocking solutions raise technical and legal problems that the Commission should evaluate fully before adoption,” AT&T said. “To the extent the Commission pursues improved PSAP call-back capabilities as a potential solution for the NSI phone problem, the Commission should establish a working group of interested stakeholders to explore this option.”

T-Mobile reminded the FCC that APCO and NENA originally advocated transmission of all 911 calls without validation. If the FCC requires carriers to block calls at PSAPs’ request, carriers themselves might face lawsuits, T-Mobile said.

“It is probable that some plaintiffs’ counsel would attempt to argue that such blocking would be considered ‘intentional conduct’ not subject to civil liability protection under some state laws or that this blocking action might otherwise expose carriers to civil tort liability,” the carrier said. “While T-Mobile believes that such suits would be without merit, the costs and distractions of defending against this type of litigation could be substantial; and given the vagaries of the trial system, there is always the chance for an adverse verdict with substantial damages.”

“NENA is in the process of reviewing the comments to which we plan to respond in the reply round,” said Patrick Halley, its government affairs director. “We… remain confident that steps can be taken to improve the current situation.”