A wireless booster rulemaking notice is scheduled for a vote at Thursday’s FCC meeting, after concerns raised by Verizon Wireless and public safety were addressed in recent days. The order was placed on the sunshine agenda circulated by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, cutting off further lobbying at the FCC. The FCC is also slated to vote on a data roaming order as well as high-profile orders on pole attachments and the video relay service program, among other items.

A wireless signal booster order scheduled for a vote at the FCC’s April 7 meeting could get pulled for further work, after Verizon Wireless, the National Emergency Number Association and APCO raised 911 concerns, agency officials said Tuesday. Verizon Wireless, joined by NENA, flagged a technical concern in rules for acceptable booster design in a series of meetings at the FCC. “Verizon explained that the proposed safeguards relating to automatic gain control and oscillation detection are insufficient to address harmful interference to E-911 network operation and services,” said an ex parte filing. “NENA expressed concern about the threats to public safety from unauthorized and/or improperly installed signal boosters, including harmful interference to commercial users attempting to dial 911 and degrading the performance of E-911 location accuracy technology.” APCO sent the commission a letter Tuesday also raising concerns. “The docket in this proceeding includes evidence that boosters can create dangerous interference to other cellular users (including those who may be trying to dial 9-1-1) and to public safety land mobile operations in adjacent portions of the 800 MHz frequency band,” APCO said.

The FCC is preparing a notice of inquiry asking how to integrate broadband alerts into next-generation 911, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Deputy Chief Jennifer Manner said Wednesday. The inquiry will be broadly worded -- focusing on such questions as what should be covered and how to coordinate with other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- and will come out in the late spring or early summer, Manner said. She spoke on a panel about the National Broadband Plan’s first anniversary.

"Any additional action” by the FCC imposing even tougher E-911 location accuracy rules for wireless is “inappropriate at this time,” CTIA said in comments filed at the commission. The FCC sought comment on enhancements to its rules when it approved tougher location-accuracy standards Sept. 23 (CD Sept 24 p6). Other wireless carriers agreed the FCC should allow for more time before imposing additional rules.

The FCC imposed new wireless location accuracy mandates on carriers Thursday, adopting a compromise that had been worked out between major carriers, APCO and the National Emergency Number Association. The commission also approved a notice of inquiry examining changes to 911 for VoIP and a notice of proposed rulemaking on future changes for wireless. None of the documents had been released at our deadline.

Some states are looking to consolidate their emergency dispatch centers for cost savings as they migrate to the next generation 911 systems. But some local officials urged states to back off the plan. Concerns regarding additional cost, longer response time and quality of service were cited at a Maine Public Utility Commission hearing Wednesday. The state PUC proposed to reduce the current 26 public safety answering points to 15-17.

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and Motorola, long the top provider of public safety radios, disagreed on the state of industry competition, in filings on an Aug. 19 FCC Public Safety Bureau public notice. Motorola also took issue with the notice’s characterization of the market as one where “first responders rely on communications systems supplied by a small number of equipment providers to support mission-critical communications.” Questions about competition in the public safety equipment market were raised by leaders of the House Commerce Committee in a June 30 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Verizon Wireless is asking for what public safety considers a significant change in E-911 wireless location accuracy, an issue tentatively on the agenda for a vote at next week’s open FCC meeting. FCC officials said the order has gotten some discussion in recent days, though not nearly as much as proposed white spaces rules (CD Aug 16 p1). In an agreement with the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International and the National Emergency Numbering Association, that the FCC was expected to ratify, Verizon and other CDMA carriers would have been allowed to exclude data from up to 15 percent of counties from being taken into account in assessing its accuracy in pinpointing the emergency calls, provided the counties were forested. Verizon asked for a change, allowing it to exclude 15 percent of counties for “any reason.” APCO and NENA protested, saying that’s not what was in the agreement they worked out with the carrier in 2008. “Limiting the exclusion to heavily forested areas was a material element of the negotiated agreement. Our concern had been, and remains, that a broader exclusion could lead to substantial areas receiving substandard location accuracy for E911 calls.” Verizon said the change is a matter of fairness and brings the agreement more in line with one for GMS-based carriers worked out between the public safety groups and AT&T.

September is expected to be busy for public safety issues in Washington, but time and funding concerns are working against passing any legislation this year, said public safety and telecom industry officials. Legislation to set up a $70 million NTIA grant competition for public safety communications devices (CD July 30 p5) may have a better shot than bills involving the D-block, they said. The House and Senate have introduced nearly identical bills, HR-5907 and S-3731, sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and neither has generated opposition.

The National Emergency Numbers Association supported giving the D-block to public safety agencies under legislation introduced this month by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The association previously supported auctioning the D-block commercially as proposed in draft legislation by House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., calling that the best approach to secure funding for the network. The Rockefeller bill, which would pay for the public safety network through network leasing and proceeds from incentive and other auctions (CD Aug 9 p3), deals with both public safety’s spectrum and funding shortfalls, NENA President Steve O'Conor said Wednesday. Rockefeller’s “recognition that the public safety wireless broadband network must be integrated with our nation’s 9-1-1 centers demonstrates a clear understanding of their vital role in the emergency response chain,” O'Conor added. The association “also recognizes the significant work” of other lawmakers working on the public safety issue. Several overlapping and conflicting public safety bills have been announced or introduced, including by Rockefeller, Waxman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Ct., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. Waxman hasn’t introduced his bill, the only one that would enact the National Broadband Plan’s recommendation to auction the D-block. Rockefeller’s committee may hold a public safety hearing next month, after the Senate returns from recess Sept. 13 (CD Aug 25 p2).