Operators dissappoint FCC’s Powell with location effort

10 Oct 2001 at 03:09 GMT Timo Poropudas

"I am disappointed and unsatisfied with the progress we have made, thus far," The Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said in a statement on Friday. At the same time the FCC conditionally approved requests by five wireless companies to extend the timetable for meeting FCC’s 911 location more precisely. "I know and respect that carriers have made concerted strides in this area, but those efforts must be re-doubled," Powell said.

The E911 is by far the most important and expensive project in mobile location area. While many commercial location based services can be implemented with existing technologies, the needs of emergency services drive the industry to pinpoint mobile handset location more accurately.

The biggest U.S. mobile telephone carrier, Verizon Wireless, as well as Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications, had met all the FCC requirements for providing plans for phasing in enhanced 911 services. All the major carriers have gained FCC approval for their GSM and TDMA based networks.

While the agency approved part of the plans by Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless Services the FCC said it was examining possible sanctions against the two for failing to timely submit compliance plans for other parts of their networks.

Oct. 1 was the deadline for U.S. wireless companies to begin offering improved location identification, including the sale of handsets equipped to accomplish that goal. The roll-out of E-911 location identification is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2005.

Wireless carriers will eventually have to be able to locate the 67 percent of calls within a radius of 50-100 meters and 95 percent of calls within a radius of 150-300 meters depending on the technology they use.

Each carrier's precise method of achieving E911 capability varies depending on whether they are employing a handset or network-based system.

The FCC statement included the following company specifics:

Specifically, the Commission has taken the following actions, approving plans to implement E911 Phase II for the six nationwide wireless carriers (VoiceStream's implementation plan was approved in September 2000), which together serve more than 75 percent of the subscribers in the country.

With respect to 3 companies (Nextel, Sprint, and Verizon) that had met FCC requirements to provide a clear, detailed and enforceable plan to phase-in its ALI capabilities, the Commission agreed to take into account the companies' showings about equipment availability, and allow them to implement Phase II E911 according to a modified schedule for some of the initial 2001 and 2002 deployment milestones. It said it would strictly adhere to enforcement of these modified plans for meeting these alternative intermediate milestones and for completing E911 deployment by 2005.
With respect to 2 companies, (AT&T and Cingular) that submitted E911 compliance plans for the GSM portion of their wireless networks, the Commission provided similar relief, also conditioned on strict FCC enforcement of their new schedules.
The Commission noted that while AT&T and Cingular had submitted compliance plans for the TDMA portion of their networks, the timing of those submissions did not permit Commission consideration. Accordingly, discussions have been initiated between these carriers and FCC Enforcement Bureau staff concerning possible consent decrees with the Commission to resolve this compliance issue.
To track carrier compliance with the revised schedules, the FCC imposed specific reporting requirements on the carriers regarding the implementation of both Phase I and Phase II of E911. Carrier Quarterly Progress Reports will be filed starting next year on February 1st, May 1st, August 1st, and November 1st.
The FCC will conduct an ongoing inquiry on E911 technical issues, including evaluation of reports and submissions by technology vendors, network equipment and handset manufacturers and carriers concerning technology standards issues, development of hardware and software, and supply conditions.
The Commission also established an additional period for carriers other than the six nationwide carriers to submit requests for relief in recognition of the challenges faced by many smaller and rural carriers. Any of these carriers who cannot comply with the Commission's E911 deployment rules must file a petition seeking relief by November 30, 2001.