The FCC Thurs. approved a rulemaking proposing that wireless carriers be required to improve their systems so they can more accurately locate subscribers who make 911 calls. The FCC also began an examination of whether carriers should have to report by PSAP, rather than by statewide averaging, how they perform in reaching emergency callers rather than through statewide averaging. PSAP reporting is more lenient and is favored by carriers. The Commission is also examining requirements for VoIP providers.

House Homeland Security Committee Chmn. Thompson (D- Miss.) had a firm message Tues. for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Undersecy. David Paulison: Finish a plan coordinating local, state and federal emergency response efforts and end bureaucratic turf skirmishes. Paulison irked Thompson when he said the plan, due June 1, won’t be ready until close to July 1. Ranking Member King (R-N.Y.) pressed Paulison about a current International Trade Commission case that could affect first responders’ access to cellphones.

A draft E-911 bill by Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.) would offer VoIP providers protection from suits if emergency calls aren’t connected to public safety answering points (PSAPs), Gordon’s legislative asst., Dana Lichtenberg, said at an FCBA lunch Fri. The immunity provision is a key element in the bill, circulating among House Commerce Committee lawmakers and expected to be introduced within 2 weeks, she said. The bill updates one debated last year and resembles S-428, which the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously reported out April 25.

The National Emergency Number Assn. and the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials will cooperate on next generation 911 (NG911) planning and deployment, they said Wed. The agreement covers how they will share information and their areas of overlap and expertise. Each will have a committee -- NENA’s Next Generation Transition Planning Committee and APCO’s Project 41 Committee -- with each body’s leadership also serving on the other panel. The arrangement is a “major step forward… on the critical issue of NG911,” said NENA Pres. Jason Barbour. “The results will be a firm foundation for the advancement of 911 and public safety,” APCO Pres. Wanda McCarley said.

Public safety groups said a VoIP E-911 bill (S-428) would help ensure full E-911 services for VoIP subscribers, according to testimony Tues. before the Senate Commerce Committee. S-428, introduced by Sens. Nelson (D-Fla.), Snowe (R-Me.) and Clinton (D-N.Y.) would require every VoIP provider to give customers the E-911 services mandated in FCC regulations. The service would have to be comparable to the 911 requirements of wireless providers. The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) hasn’t taken a formal position on the bill, but it “strongly” supports the bill’s goal, said Pres. Wanda McCarley in her prepared testimony. APCO supports the provision extending liability protection for public safety answering points (PSAPs) for VoIP 911 calls and a provision that allows state and local govts. to collect 911 fees from VoIP service providers, McCarley said: “We believe that VoIP providers should not be able to offer new services to new customers in geographic areas where the provider is not able to comply with the FCC’s 911 and E-911 requirements contained in the FCC’s Order in WC Docket No. 04-36 and 05-196.” The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) also supports the bill, Pres. Jason Barbour told the committee. Barbour asked Congress to appropriate funds for 911 grants that were created under a 2004 law and urged expansion of the program to include IP-based solutions. Barbour said progress has been made in deploying E-911 service for landline and wireless service with 97% of U.S. counties having access to wireline E-911 service. Nearly 85% of the PSAPs can receive both call back and location information from cell phones, he said. However, there are still many areas that lack E-911 service for landline, wireless or VoIP, Barbour said.

Top officials with the National Emergency Number Assn. met separately last week with all 5 FCC commissioners, the group said in a filing with the Commission. Topics included the pace of E-911 rollout, difficulties resolving disputes in the states over surcharging of prepaid wireless service, and “what NENA believes to be the slow pace of the states in legislating requirements for locating 911 callers whose communications are processed through PBXs and other multi- line telephone systems,” NENA said.

The Dept. of Transportation hopes this year to run initial field tests of its Next Generation 911 project but needs a location, Laurie Flaherty, a leader of the program for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said Tues. Key decisions on the program will be made the next few months, Flaherty told the National Emergency Number Assn.’s annual D.C. meeting.

NENA said its 3 highest priorities for this Congress are federal funding for 911 and emergency communications, getting E-911 solutions for all technologies, and homeland security provisions broad enough to encompass emergency response and 911. NENA endorses a 911 bill introduced by Sens. Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Stevens (R-Alaska).

Congress, DHS and the FCC must ensure that first responders get the equipment, money and administrative support they need to build a strong interoperable emergency communications system, 2 former govt. officials said Wed. The Deficit Reduction Act, which spelled out rules for the DTV transition, ordered 24 MHz of spectrum auctioned for public safety -- “prime” frequency that will meet 21st Century communications needs, said a white paper by Larry Irving and Michael Gallagher, former Commerce Dept. communications officials under President Clinton and the current President Bush, respectively.

“Broadband should be like water in a restaurant, something that comes with your meal,” said Kathleen Wallman, consultant with M2Z Wireless Networks and a former FCC bureau chief. She said modest-speed (300K), ad-supported Internet access should be included with basic telephone service: “Basic broadband connectivity should be free. If you want more than that, it would be available to purchase.” Wallman, a panel speaker at the NARUC annual meeting, said the U.S. lags far behind other nations in broadband penetration and service speed. “We need a different strategy for broadband deployment” for both wireline and wireless service. With wireless, she proposed the FCC grant exclusive 15-year leases of broadband spectrum and get a percentage of the annual revenue. E Copernicus consultant Chris McLean said ubiquitous broadband is “a national security imperative.” He said security demands multiple redundant broadband networks using both landline and wireless technologies. He said achieving universal broadband means policymakers and industry must take some risks: “There’s no single ’silver bullet’ solution for broadband development. It’s a layer cake of policy.” He said successful broadband policy should rely on market forces as much as possible, consider innovative approaches like spectrum leasing, support broadband with subsidies where necessary, create demand, and be flexible. He said that when govt. decides something is a genuine national priority, it generally gets done. He cited rural electrification and the national schools & libraries telecom program as examples. “We should be moving the broadband ball forward, getting it done, because broadband is important.” Consultant Bob Rowe, a former Mont. regulator, said broadband is changing the cost and revenue picture for providers. “Networks and costs don’t go away -- they change,” he said. For instance, he said, the rise of broadband is shifting costs from switching and general network operations to construction of new outside plant and to acquisition of content. He said that as broadband grows, providers will see less revenue from traditional narrowband phone services and more from selling new services made possible by broadband. But that demand for new services will stress the infrastructure and demand further investment. He said providers may need to consider new revenue models such as selling advertising.