FCC Extends EAAC’s Charter Six More Months, as Group Zeroes in on NG-911

"We received support to extend your work,” said Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Deputy Chief Karen Peltz Strauss at the meeting, citing the committee’s request and support from the National Emergency Number Association, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials and others. EAAC Co-Chairman and Los Angeles’ Department on Disability Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Coordinator Richard Ray said he appreciates the extension and sees a role for digging deeper into the committee’s next-generation 911 discussions and future recommendations. Committee member Christopher Littlewood, a project coordinator at the Allstate Center’s Center for Public Safety Innovation at the National Terrorism Preparedness Institute, said the news caused “a sigh of relief,” later when giving his presentation.

The EAAC had asked for three additional months of operating time but got six, Strauss said. The committee could use the extra time however members like, and if done before the six months, could stop meeting then, she said. She recommended the members plan for what will happen after the committee expires. The FCC knew that members were still at work on reports and some may have “scrambled” to get them ready for Friday, and the extension is “primarily” intended to allow them to properly finish, she said. It’s “the easiest thing to do,” because if the committee ends, the FCC would require another charter and new members to restart anything, she explained.

The FCC is fixing its eye on emergency communications as it pertains to next-generation 911, Deputy Public Safety Bureau Chief David Furth told the committee. He described the “extremely important” report his bureau released Thursday on the derecho storms’ 911 disruption (CD Jan 11 p3). Upcoming events include the FCC’s Feb. 22 report to Congress on NG-911’s legal and statutory framework and what may need to change, he added, noting the FCC had requested feedback: “We're looking at those comments very actively now.”

The text-to-911 rulemaking notice called for carriers to send a “bounce back” error message to wireless subscribers who try to text 911 when there’s no capacity for that. “The bounce back issue is very important to us, and our aim is to get an order out by late March, the April time frame,” said Public Safety Bureau Policy Division Deputy Chief Zenji Nakazawa. Comments on that issue are due Jan. 29, replies Feb. 8 (http://xrl.us/boaekw), he said. EAAC recommendations will play a key role in the text-to-911 rulemaking, Furth said: “The work here in this committee is highly relevant and directly on point, so it will have a lot of weight.” Strauss credited the committee’s “obvious” contributions to FCC work: “Your recommendations were the foundation of some of our actions in the text-to-911 documents.”

The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act will factor into the coming months, Strauss said, saying there’s not much to update at the moment. One goal is for visually impaired people to be able to interact with their TVs via a potential audio component, she said. Strauss just returned from CES and she was “excited” to see video device manufacturers already experimenting with this technology and described three companies that showcased voice-activated televisions. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and CEA CEO Gary Shapiro also spent 10 minutes discussing the act at CES, which sends a “very important message,” she added.

Three EAAC subcommittees presented reports, which touched on text-to-911, NG-911’s media communication line services (MCLS) and the transition away from TTY communication. The first subcommittee looked at text-to-911 questions surrounding user needs and constraints, the role of originating networks and devices, the characteristics of the transport networks between the originating networks and the public safety answering points (PSAPs) as well as at the national interim text and vendor and proprietary solutions. Littlewood talked about the importance of direct access to PSAP service, with connection to trained and qualified signers and interpreters. His subcommittee recommended independent MCLS centers, which would be nationally recognized and certified with standard operational protocol and qualifications for interpreters, their assistants and offer training. Littlewood wanted MCSL connections to be automatic for callers to PSAPs “no matter what their situation is,” a system that should work “in the exact same manner as language services does in legacy 911,” he said.

The third subcommittee considered the virtues a TTY replacement would need to have as well as how to integrate TTY interoperability given that, despite its dropping popularity and “clumsy” operations, many still use it, member Gunnar Hellström reported. He hoped that stakeholders might agree on a replacement within eight or 24 months and aim to have all new users on this replacement system within seven years or less, he said. Members will continue finalizing their recommendations and giving feedback to one another in the coming months, they agreed.

The EAAC may consolidate some of its seven subcommittees in its final six months, as members debated how some subcommittees are much more active than others. The committee tentatively plans to meet next in early March.