Some public safety officials are reaching out to both sides trying to mend a rift between APCO and the National Emergency Number Association and the Public Safety Spectrum Trust -- the licensee for the portion of the 700 MHz band reserved for public safety, APCO and other officials said. FCC sources said the fight between the PSST and public safety groups could complicate commission efforts to develop a nationwide network for public safety in the 700 MHz band.

The FCC backed away from a fight with wireless carriers over revised E-911 rules. The commission asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate a stay the court issued in March of the FCC’s location-accuracy rules, which carriers insisted were unrealistically tough. The filing came while the APCO conference was taking place in Kansas City, Mo.

APCO is alerting the FCC that it is ready to sever ties with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, saying so in meetings with commissioners and their staffs, we have learned. Top officials from APCO and the PSST are to testify Wednesday at the FCC en banc on the future of the D-block at the Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City.

APCO and the National Emergency Number Association are backing down from demands for what carriers have insisted were unrealistically tough requirements in E-911 location- accuracy rules approved by the FCC in 2007. APCO and NENA said in a letter to the FCC they would be comfortable changing a central requirement approved by the commission at a special Sept. 11 meeting.

Wireless carriers led by CTIA asked the FCC to keep a requirement that they forward all 911 calls to a public safety answering point, even if from a discarded cellphone no longer part of a service plan. That stance puts carriers at odds with public safety groups APCO and the National Emergency Number Association, which asked the FCC for a rule change.

APCO called for reforms in the structure of the public safety spectrum trust (PSST) and the public safety broadband licensee (PSBL), which it would manage, in an FCC filing on the future of the 700 MHz D-block. APCO advocated limits on PSBL funding, greater transparency at PSST meetings and changes to the composition of the PSST board of directors. The remarks represent the first major public break between APCO and the PSST, sources said Monday. The FCC is examining revised rules for the D-block after no company purchased the spectrum in the first 700 MHz auction.

The National Emergency Number Association reported on various meetings at the FCC at which the group expressed “continued strong support for a public private partnership as the most viable option to establish a national interoperable wireless public safety broadband network” when the agency reauctions the 700 MHz D-block. NENA officials met with Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein and Robert McDowell, among others, NENA said in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC.

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission put off to May 7 a decision on opening a 911 rulemaking to set standards for next-generation, IP-based E-911 systems. Those systems would be capable of feeding video and data to emergency responders and providing 911 voice service from every type of mobile or landline telecom device. The PUC was to vote Wednesday in Case 08-287-TP-UNC, but commissioners opted for an extra week of study. The Ohio chapters of the National Emergency Number Association and Association of Public Safety Communications Officials sought the rulemaking. They said incumbent telcos’ existing 911 services aren’t keeping pace with landline and mobile advances in the 911 market and want the state to take the lead in setting standards for applying IP-based technology to 911 service. The Ohio Telecom Association, Cincinnati Bell and AT&T opposed the petition as counterproductive. They said today’s system supports all types of provider including VoIP and wireless. They said any perception that incumbents are lagging at adopting advanced 911 technologies is caused by the need for foolproof security and integrity before IP-based 911 services can be adopted. Foes urged the PUC to keep taking part in and monitoring efforts at the FCC and elsewhere relating to next-generation 911 but refrain from developing state-specific standards at risk of being pre-empted by U.S. standards. The NENA national organization also cautioned the PUC to go slow. It said the evolution to next-generation 911 service “should be treated as a national project in which individual state action must be appropriately coordinated with other state and national activities.” The national NENA said states should analyze how their laws and regulations may slow development and deployment of next-generation 911 and make changes to help the service. But the 911 Industry Alliance and competitive 911 provider Intrado Communications urged the PUC to go ahead with its rulemaking. They said that holding off and waiting for national policies could put at risk Ohio’s ability to ensure the public’s continued safety.

The National Emergency Number Association named former FCC Chief of Staff Brian Fontes CEO Wednesday. Fontes, who served under James Quello at the agency, has been a senior vice president at CTIA and recently vice president at Cingular and now AT&T. The appointment “gives NENA instant credibility throughout the regulatory and legislative arena,” said Ronald Bonneau, NENA’s first vice president.

Don’t designate TracFone Wireless an eligible telecommunications carrier unless TracFone commits to collect and remit 911 recovery fees in compliance with state and local government requests, the National Emergency Number Association urged the FCC in comments. The recommendation concurred with February comments by the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate. According to an ex parte, TracFone lawyers spoke about E911 fees Wednesday with Ian Dillner, aide to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. In comments, NENA cited “the emergence of frustrating patterns of behavior by TracFone related to whether or how to apply” 911 and E911 surcharges “commonplace for conventional wire and wireless telephony.” The prepaid carrier’s “apparent practice has been to offer to cooperate with 9-1-1 entities in the search for a fair and practicable way to surcharge prepaid services, only to turn against, and sometimes formally challenge, the legislative result,” NENA said.