The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should require carriers to be able to locate the vertical location of wireless callers. NENA opposes CTIA’s “phased in” approach (see 1910100030), it told an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing in docket 07-114, posted Friday. “Emphasizing public safety’s sensitivity to timeline slip, we noted that the proposed benchmarks have been in place since the Commission’s 2015 Roadmap,” NENA said. But NENA agrees with CTIA that the national emergency address database faces challenges. “We remain concerned that the NEAD could generate dangerously inaccurate location results for public safety, and that its compliance regime creates the potential for vast swaths of unserved 9-1-1 callers,” the group said. Top officials at NextNav met with Public Safety Bureau staff on the proposed requirement. “A major point of discussion during the meeting was the manner in which the Commission should determine compliance with its vertical location requirements in terms of handset penetration,” the company said: “The discussion included the definition of ‘z-axis capable devices’ and whether this could be defined as handsets manufactured after a certain date that include appropriate hardware components, such as a barometric pressure sensor or other capable component necessary to calculate altitude.”

Crosscut Strategies hires Charlie Meisch, ex-SKDKnickerbocker and ex-FCC, as senior vice president; Simon Brown, from Small Business Majority, as director; and Caitlin Krutsick, Bipartisan Policy Center, as account specialist; promotes Courtney Lamie to chief operating officer ... In closing buy of Tribune (see 1909200048), Nexstar appoints from there as executive vice presidents Sean Compton, for WGN America and WGN Radio, also director-content acquisition; Dana Zimmer, also chief distribution and strategy officer; and Gary Weitman, chief communications officer.

AT&T supports a 3-meter standard vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911 but technological challenges remain. The FCC got varying advice in initial comments (see 1905210061) and replies show little movement toward consensus. Replies were due FCC Tuesday in docket 07-114 and most posted Wednesday.

The FCC likely won’t move forward quickly to impose rules requiring carriers meet a new vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911, industry officials said Tuesday. Monday, APCO said the FCC should drop plans to impose the metric and focus instead on dispatchable location solutions (see 1905200025). But there was no common thread to public safety comments. Other first responders said requiring a 3-meter metric will help. Comments were posted through Tuesday in docket 07-114.

With scattered holes in enhanced 911 coverage around the U.S. slowly getting filled in, there's no consensus on when or if the U.S. ever will get universal coverage. Experts told us the issue could be mooted by next-generation 911 systems, though many communities without E-911 still are working toward that less-advanced goal. For a Special Report story on NG-911's rollout in New Jersey (see 1904230021).

With scattered holes in enhanced 911 coverage around the U.S. slowly getting filled in, there's no consensus on when or if the U.S. ever will get universal coverage. Experts told us the issue could be mooted by next-generation 911 systems, though many communities without E-911 still are working toward that less-advanced goal. For a Special Report story on NG-911's rollout in New Jersey (see 1904230021).

The FCC will investigate the nationwide CenturyLink outage that disrupted 911 service for many Americans, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday. At our deadline, the carrier was still working to resolve the multistate outage that began Thursday (see 1812270050). The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) said the outage shows urgent need to fully deploy next-generation 911. NARUC and state consumer advocates applauded FCC action.

States diverted nearly 10 percent of $2.9 billion in 911 fee revenue for unrelated purposes in 2017, the FCC reported Wednesday. For the first time, every jurisdiction responded for this year’s report, so some exact comparisons may not be possible. The FCC flagged Montana, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, West Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands as responsible for the $285 million in diverted revenue.

A surge in FCC ex parte meetings about access to national outage data in the network outage reporting system (NORS) and disaster information reporting system (DIRS) may foreshadow commission action in the near future, said parties to docket 15-80. States and others seek access, but the telecom industry is raising confidentiality concerns (see 1811060036). Multiple stakeholders that have talked with the FCC said the bureau is asking for input and meetings, but it's not clear what, if anything, Chairman Ajit Pai wants to do on the issue or when. The impetus for those meetings isn't clear, we were told.

Carriers and public safety groups disagreed on next steps for assuring the vertical accuracy (z-axis) of wireless calls to 911. CTIA said more time and testing is needed, but public safety groups urged the FCC to get tough. In September, the Public Safety Bureau sought comment on a z-axis test bed report submitted by CTIA on behalf of the nationwide carriers. Replies were due Thursday. The FCC approved an order 5-0 in January 2015 requiring carriers to improve their performance in identifying the location of wireless calls to 911 (see 1501290066). Then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at the time the FCC wasn't being tough enough.