The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is “actively monitoring" the investigations of Verizon’s 911 outages during the June 29 derecho storm in northern Virginia, the association said Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnk4xc). NENA “will issue a full, formal statement when more information is available,” it said. Investigations are under way by the FCC, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Virginia governor’s office. NENA spotlighted the recent Verizon report (CD Aug 15 p1) and press coverage on its site. In a Friday editorial, The Roanoke Times of Virginia noted the “1,603 calls flooding E-911 in the first 12 hours,” underscoring 911’s importance during the derecho (http://xrl.us/bnk4x5).

It’s feasible for Multi-Line Telephone System manufacturers to provide precise 911 location information, but groups that commented Friday differed on the proper role of the FCC in encouraging that capability. Some thought the FCC should pass rules explicitly extending location service requirements to MLTS manufacturers and operators, while others said the FCC was better positioned as an agency to guide the development of voluntary industry standards.

The National Emergency Number Association views the transition to next-generation 911 as a critical next step for public safety, said new NENA President Barbara Jaeger. “At NENA, we must do whatever we can to educate policy makers and legislators on the importance of NG911 and the national commitment that will be required to build and maintain these networks,” said Jaeger, also Arizona’s 911 administrator. “Our job is to make sure both Congress and the President … are committed to funding and deploying NG911,” she said. “We will work with our nation’s leaders to achieve what is in the best interest of all Americans -- especially the nearly 1 million people that reach out to 911 every day."

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is working hard to wrap up a decision on the various longstanding applications from Oklahoma, New Orleans and other jurisdictions for waivers so they can build out early networks in the 700 MHz band, Chief Jamie Burnett said Wednesday. But Barnett, who spoke at a National Emergency Number Association conference, declined to provide a timetable for when the FCC will make a decision.

The National Emergency Number Association is still working with its members on the challenges public safety answering points face should the FCC mandate text messaging-to-911, CEO Brian Fontes said in a meeting with FCC officials. “We explained that some PSAP equipment such as log recorders may require upgrades in order to handle SMS text, depending on a particular PSAP’s posture with respect to NG911 readiness,” NENA said in a filing (http://xrl.us/bmy435).

Spectrum legislation approved by Congress last week as part of the payroll tax cut extension bill offers $115 million to help defray the costs of a next generation 911 (NG911) network. That’s the good news for public safety. The bad news is that amount is less than one twentieth of the expected cost. But public safety officials said other provisions should be helpful in making NG911 a reality.

The FCC should “discount” recommendations by the Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions Incubator that the only feasible solution in the short term for sending texts to 911 should be based on Internet Protocol text relay technology, the National Emergency Number Association said in a comment filing. ATIS started its investigation in April 2011 using June 2012 “as the target deployment date,” NENA said (http://xrl.us/bmr3i7). “By arbitrarily limiting its consideration of possible solutions to those which could be deployed nation-wide in just over one year (including the 9 months required to generate its report), the Incubator effectively precluded consideration of many potential solutions that might have been implementable upon longer, but still reasonable timeframes.” IP text relay “has enormous shortcomings, however, that arguably exceed even those of some SMS-based solutions,” NENA said. It said said some companies, including Intrado and Neustar, have demonstrated or proposed SMS-to-911 solutions “that allow for location-based routing and varying degrees of handset- or network-based location reporting -- both critical elements of 911 service that IP text relay has not yet been shown to support.”

The record so far shows that commenters “overwhelmingly” support “voluntary, industry-led collaborative efforts” aimed at developing a mechanism allowing texting to 911, CTIA said in reply comments filed at the FCC. Carriers offered similar comments. But the National Emergency Number Association advised the FCC to act quickly and warned that any interim solution is likely to be in place for some time. Several commenters said the best short-term solution would be IP Relay, as identified by the ATIS Interim Nonvoice Emergency Services Incubator.

Despite “a substantial strain of caution in the initial comments received” by the FCC, consumers can’t wait seven to 10 years for text-to-911 to become “a reality,” the National Emergency Number Association said in a filing at the FCC. NENA CEO Brian Fontes and others from the group recently met with FCC officials, the group said (http://xrl.us/bmraw8). No review of existing text-to-911 solutions has been undertaken in sufficient detail or sufficiently absent artificial constraints to permit NENA to articulate specific recommendations about which solutions are operationally and economically viable for public safety answering points, consumers, and carriers, NENA said: “NENA committed, however, to conducting such a review with respect to PSAPs (at a minimum) and to communicate its findings to the Commission in short order.”

The National Emergency Number Association and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials agreed with wireless carriers that the FCC must move with care as it moves toward a solution that will allow consumers to send text messages to 911 call centers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has repeatedly stressed that he sees texting to 911 as an important component of a next-generation 911 network (CD Aug 11 p1). The issue is of special significance to deaf people who otherwise have difficulty making 911 calls. Comments were due this week on a notice of proposed rulemaking approved by the FCC at its September meeting (CD Sept 23 p6).