The FCC should consider requirements that would put equipment into...
The FCC should consider requirements that would put equipment into emergency vehicles, making each transport its own wireless center, Pisgah Comm consultant Stagg Newman said Tuesday. “We have to rethink emergency communications,” Newman said, speaking at a roundtable on retiring…
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the public switched telephone network at FCC headquarters. “Every vehicle can be its own little cell site.” This would help expand emergency communications in an IP era but would also allow rescue agencies to save money, Newman said. Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, said he agreed that it was “important to have a wireless, public safety network” but said the FCC should also consider tweaking rules that allow incumbents to charge for 911 connections. Carnegie Mellon telecom professor Jon Peha said the FCC ought to use the newly revised Universal Service Fund (CD Oct 28 p1) as leverage to build a wireless emergency network. “It seems to me if a carrier has gotten a dime of taxpayer money to roll out LTE in an unserved area, it ought to be able to support public safety,” he said. Peha also said there ought to be one national voice for emergency responders at rulemaking agencies. Florida state Director of Broadband Programs Bill Price said emergency agencies’ needs “have to be front and center” as new IP networks are built out.