A Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee on the 911 Fee Integrity Act (HR-6424) and other public safety telecom-related bills will likely be focused on whether there's a path to potentially move those bills later this year, lawyers and lobbyists told us. The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. HR-6424 would bar states from engaging in 911 fee diversion and give the FCC the power to decide on “acceptable” uses for the money. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly is a backer of the bill but won't testify on its behalf (see 1808170023).

T-Mobile's buying Sprint faced numerous oppositions last month (see 1808280038) but this week got considerable love. Replies were due Monday to oppositions and many were posted Tuesday (see 1809170025). Many of the filings in FCC docket 18-197 questioned whether Sprint would survive without T-Mobile. T-Mobile and Sprint said they would be stronger together. Both have “standalone plans to deploy 5G networks, [but] the New T-Mobile network will be far superior and will create expanded capacity and lower costs so that American consumers will pay less and get more,” the carriers said. “Notably,” none of the oppositions disputes this point, they said. “Opponents insist either that the merger is unnecessary to build such a nationwide 5G network or that the standalone companies have alternatives to merging. They further hypothesize that the transaction will result in harmful effects on specific segments of the wireless market, rural areas, and company employment.” A recurring criticism is the deal would reduce service or raise process for prepaid plans “attractive to cost-conscious and low-income customers,” the deal partners said. “These concerns, like those raised on T-Mobile acquired MetroPCS, are unfounded. Following this merger, all MetroPCS, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile USA customers with compatible handsets will benefit from the increased capacity and improved service quality that the New T-Mobile nationwide network will provide.” The transaction "comes at a precarious time for Sprint, which has been struggling for years as the nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute commented. “As the most highly leveraged S&P 500 company, with $32 billion of net debt, Sprint faces an uncertain future as a nationwide wireless carrier capable of competing with larger rivals.” The combined company “will be in a far better position to deploy wireless services to all Americans than would either company alone,” TechFreedom said. The group said many opponents “understate” how competitive the U.S. wireless market is. “In perhaps no other industry are the economies of scale larger than in broadband, and wireless broadband in particular,” TechFreedom said. The National Emergency Number Association said it rarely files on transactions but sees the deal as potentially benefiting emergency calling. T-Mobile is a leader in efforts to improve 911 calling, doing most work in-house, NENA said. “Such work, if carried over to the combined companies, will benefit T-Mobile customers when dialing 9-1-1 from their mobile devices."

APCO and the National Emergency Numbering Association urged the FCC to impose new 911 reliability rules. Industry commenters said rules would do nothing to make emergency calling more reliable. The Public Safety Bureau sought comment in June on reliability of 911 networks and whether current rules should be “modified to adapt to advancements in technology or other changes, including notification to Public Safety Answering Points of network outages affecting 911 service." Initial comments were due Monday in docket 13-75.

The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should address misrouting of 911 calls to public safety answering points. “Occurrence of 9-1-1 ‘misroutes’ is significant enough to merit action,” NENA said. Most industry players with replies in docket 18-64 urged caution and suggested the FCC wait for an industry-supported solution to emerge. In March, the agency released a notice of inquiry on ways to ensure wireless 911 calls are routed directly to the appropriate call center (see 1803230023). Initial comments were posted in May (see 1805080040).

Former FCC chairmen heralded Apple's Monday announcement it will include RapidSOS technology in iOS 12 to quickly send more accurate location information to 911 call centers, which National Emergency Number Association President Rob McMullen said will accelerate next-generation 911 deployment. It's "a very significant announcement heralding a material shift forward in emergency response capabilities,” former FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick, an adviser to RapidSOS, told us. “The FCC has itself estimated that enhanced location information accurately and immediately communicated can save up to 10,000 lives annually.”

Many 911 stakeholders pushed next-generation services to help end the problem of misrouted calls, in comments posted this week in docket 18-64. CTIA said the FCC should weigh the costs versus benefits of various call-routing options as it considers how to make wireless calls to 911 more reliable. Public safety groups and others stressed the importance of NG-911. In March, the FCC released a notice of inquiry on ways to ensure wireless 911 calls are routed directly to the appropriate public safety answering point (see 1803230023).

Emergency-number officials and providers sought one more week to file FCC replies to a notice of inquiry on location-based routing for wireless 911 calls (see 1803230023). Replies are due June 21. In a joint motion last week in docket 18-64, the National Emergency Number Association, CTIA and others said many key parties will be attending NENA’s national conference June 16-21 in Nashville.

Movements to end 911 fee diversion in New Jersey and Rhode Island continue as FCC commissioners amplify rhetoric on the issue and after another commission report showed several states still using 911 fees charged on phone bills for things not directly related to 911. But governors in violating states haven't pledged changes and the state-level efforts -- spearheaded by industry and county officials in New Jersey and a state representative in Rhode Island -- are not new. Continued misuse of the fees is “incredibly disappointing” and “jeopardizes the future of the 911 system,” warned National Emergency Number Association Director-Government Affairs Trey Forgety. Funding is a key challenge to implementing NG-911, GAO said in a report released Friday.

First responder groups criticized what they said was an Office of Management and Budget decision Tuesday to not reclassify "public safety telecommunicators" in a "protective service” category in its standard occupational classification, as advocates sought so that 911 call takers are in a category that includes police and firefighters (see 1704100015). OMB staff has failed 911 professionals as "call takers & dispatchers aren’t 'protective' occupations," tweeted APCO. "@realDonaldTrump @POTUS Please fix." The group "consulted with a top law firm in DC and decided that pursuing a remedy in court is not a viable option," it said on its website. "This decision is within OMB’s discretion, which means OMB, or even President Trump, has the power to correct it." National Emergency Number Association President Rob McMullen, calling it an "emotionally-charged issue," said NENA made evidence-based comments consistent with "OMB’s data-driven approach to this statistical classification. OMB has made it clear that this is the only way to achieve our long-term goal of full reclassification." OMB didn't comment Wednesday.

Chairman Ajit Pai said when people call 911, they need to be able to get through and the FCC will do what it must to guarantee that occurs. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC must do a complete report on hurricanes Harvey and Irma and communications failures seen in both storms. Both spoke Monday as the FCC marked the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with a workshop on improving situational awareness during 911 outages. It took place as Irma battered parts of the Southeast and as Florida started to deal with the damage inflicted by the massive storm. Public safety answering points and communications towers took a big hit, the FCC reported.