Major Wireless Carriers Agree to Text-to-911 Network Upgrades

Carriers agreed to put in place by June 30 a mechanism for sending bounce back notifications to subscribers when text-to-911 is unavailable in their area, telling them they should instead call 911. As a result, the FCC is expected to delete its proposed 911 order from the agenda of Wednesday’s open meeting, agency and industry officials said. The major carriers also agreed to make their networks capable of transmitting texts to 911 call centers by May 15, 2014. Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile signed the agreement, the agency said.

A further notice of proposed rulemaking, which asks questions on a number of topics -- including whether to mandate a bounce back requirement for over-the-top (OTT) services like WhatsApp, FaceBook messaging and Apple’s iMessage -- remains on the agenda, agency officials told us. The notice also asked questions about expanding requirements to small carriers. FCC officials believe that by addressing carrier services first, they are tackling the biggest percentage of text messages, an agency spokesman said (CD Nov 29 p1). Carriers also agreed to file quarterly progress reports to NENA and APCO, NENA said. Congressional Next Gen 911 Caucus co-chairmen Reps. John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., called the agreement “a major step forward.” They “look forward to following the advances over the next two years,” the two said jointly Friday.

SMS was not designed for emergency texts, a carrier executive told us. “There are limitations to it,” the official said. “There’s a lot of work that’s been done outside of this process to improve it. ... I think, over time, improvements will be made. But I think the notion was to get, as soon as possible, sort of basic text-to-911 delivery out and this was the fastest way to do it with, frankly, the least resistance, at least from the carriers.” Perhaps the biggest future sticking point, industry and government officials say, is that the FCC cannot order public safety answering points to make their systems text capable and most PSAPs have little money to make major upgrades. The commission has jurisdiction over carriers but not PSAPs.

The agreement gives PSAPs certainty and should mean more will move to make their systems capable of handling text messages, a commission official said. The accord will “spur 911 deployment faster than our actions alone,” the official said. “We feel like it’s a very solid foundation for the commission’s next steps. By setting a clear date now ... the message is clearer to PSAPs that it’s worthwhile and an important step to start preparing to receive 911 texts."

But a second FCC official said it could take a decade or more before text-to-911 capability is available nationwide. “The commitment is consistent with the approach that PSAP capability and funding have always been a prerequisite for wireless 911 deployment. The FCC has never required service providers to deploy wireless 911 where the PSAP isn’t ready for it,” a carrier official said Friday. “The industry is keenly aware that issues around IP-enabled services like OTT messaging need to be addressed. This commitment is targeted at an interim step while NG911 is being worked on.” It’s “only part of the solution, but an important part,” a public safety official said. “This is an important step forward to an eventual solution.” The other things needing to be done shouldn’t “be taken lightly,” since they're “something that may take a lengthy period of time to resolve,” the official said.

Genachowski said more work remains (http://xrl.us/bn5b6n). “Access to 911 must catch up with how consumers communicate in the 21st century -- and today, we are one step closer towards that vital goal,” he said in a written statement Thursday night. “Last year I announced a comprehensive plan to accelerate the transition to Next Generation 911, including text-to-911, and the FCC has acted to advance this effort. I also called on the communications industry and public safety entities to work together to enable nationwide text-to-911 as quickly as possible, and I am pleased that the nation’s four largest wireless carriers and leading public safety organizations have responded with today’s commitment, which will save lives starting in 2013.”

"As the public becomes more mobile and embraces new methods for communicating, 911 has to be ready to answer non-voice requests for assistance,” said NENA President Barbara Jaeger. “T-Mobile will continue collaborating with the public safety community, the other carriers and others to deploy this emergency communication capability,” said Federal Regulatory Vice President Kathleen Ham. “While text-to-911 services can help meet emergency communication needs in certain circumstances, consumers should continue to use voice services to call 911 whenever possible."

Public safety is a top priority at AT&T, said Senior Vice President Bob Quinn in a statement. “We are in the process of launching a standards-based trial service for text-to-911 in the state of Tennessee and expect industry standards to be finalized in early 2013,” he said. “The voluntary framework that was proposed yesterday builds on industry work already underway towards achieving a comprehensive framework for our customers to be able to use text messaging services to communicate with 911 emergency responders. But this capability needs to be in place for all text messaging services. The last thing you want in an emergency situation is for the consumer to have to figure out which of the various text messaging services on your Smartphone are capable of actually transmitting a 911 communication. Any solution that is not comprehensive will result in potentially harmful customer confusion.” Quinn agreed more work remains to be done.