O'Rielly Pushing for Better Cellular Connections on Washington Metro
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly asked the Federal Transit Administration to step in to make sure riders on the Washington Metrorail system can make calls on their cellphones while in the system. The Department of Transportation in an Oct. 9 letter assumed direct control over safety on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority rail system.
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O’Rielly’s letter was directed to Therese McMillan, FTA's acting administrator. FTA released a June report on WMATA safety, which cited problems with the authority’s communications system, but didn't mention cellular coverage on the rail system.
“Quite simply, when DC Metro riders -- often the first to see a problem developing -- try to notify first responders, they frequently are unable to receive a signal strong enough to make a simple call to 9-1-1 to report the emergency,” O’Rielly wrote Wednesday. “To fully utilize such an important notification capability, America's wireless providers need greater cooperation from WMATA to update the DC Metro system for modern wireless communications.”
The FCC has no authority over WMATA but the agency’s work on emergency communications “has reaffirmed the fundamental principle that consumers benefit most when America's communications networks are fully deployed and operational,” O’Rielly said. “We have also seen that emergency communications systems are susceptible to breakdown or failure unless all components, including the public's ability to report events, are functioning properly.” A spokeswoman for WMATA declined to comment. FTA just received the letter and is reviewing it, a spokesman said. "We will respond to the FCC in the near future."
The letter offers an example of “the many ways that the priorities of local and other federal authorities may conflict with the FCC’s interest in the timely and cost-effective deployment of new communications facilities,” said Fred Campbell, executive director of the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology. “The FCC typically lacks legal authority to resolve these types of conflicts,” Campbell said. “It can act as a bully pulpit for explaining the importance of new communications systems to the public, which appears to be Commissioner O’Rielly’s purpose here.”
WMATA announced in 2009 that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon would provide service across most of its system after a multiyear push by the carriers for access (see 0903030163). Initially, only Verizon Wireless customers could connect inside the Metrorail system. Verizon’s relationship with Metro dates to a 1993 agreement under which Metro agreed to let Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, now Verizon Wireless, build the system. In return, the carrier built a public safety communications system for Metro and paid Metro an annual fee.