FCC WIDENS SCOPE OF E911 RULES TO WIRELESS RESELLERS, TELEMATICS

The FCC left the next steps on an E911 rollout for MLTS to states and local govts., Although several commissioners voiced concern about a lack of progress. MLTS systems allow businesses and multitenant residential building owners to provide phone service by eliminating the need for an external line for each telephone in their building through private branch exchanges. Public safety groups have raised concerns about the difficulty of locating emergency callers in large buildings with MLTS. “This is one of our public safety community’s top public safety issues and we need to determine what can be done to bring adequate E911 services to Americans who work in the large offices where MLTS are present,” Comr. Copps said: “This may well be a place for more federal action.” Chmn. Powell expressed concern that there not be gaps in the nation’s emergency call system, urging states to take action.

Similarly, Comr. Martin said he was “disappointed” in the treatment of MLTS, saying 911 calls made over such systems had “posed significant problems… A phone in a large company’s MLTS might be anywhere in the country, and public safety officials will have no way of knowing where the phone is.” Martin said he had heard stories of emergency workers’ showing up at the wrong place because of insufficient information from an MLTS. Comr. Adelstein said: “I do have a lingering concern that our actions today with regard to multiline telephone systems, such as private branch exchanges, just are not enough.” He called the items a “first step,” saying he was prepared to intervene if state govts. didn’t adopt timely requirements.

Rather than adopting national regulations for MLTS, the FCC encouraged states to use model legislation adopted by public safety groups, including the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials and the National Emergency Numbering Assn. It said it expected states to act “expeditiously.” The FCC plans to issue a public notice in a year to evaluate the progress states have made. The further notice seeks comment on MLTS E911 capability issues, “should federal action be necessary.” It ordered the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) to look at the issue.

In other areas, the FCC: (1) Directed MSS carriers that provided interconnected voice service to establish call centers in order to route 911 calls to a public safety answering point. The Commission didn’t conclude whether MSS providers should be held to E911 requirements, but Adelstein said: “I think we also put these carriers rightly on notice that we ultimately intend to require them to comply with our E911 requirements, though the record, at this time, does not support immediate compliance with those rules.” The agency directed NRIC to study technical issues involved in E911 implementation for satellite systems. It sought comment on whether a transition period was needed for MSS providers with an ancillary terrestrial component to meet terrestrial wireless E911 requirements. It also asked for feedback on proposed reporting requirements for the emergency call center rule.

(2) Required operators that offered interconnected commercial wireless voice services, in addition to standard telematics services such as navigation aids, to meet E911 requirements. Telematics providers that offer only standard telematics services and link their customers via an internal call center “can typically provide customers with access to emergency services when they dial the provider’s call center,” the FCC said. It said providers of combined typical telematics services and commercial wireless voice service could have E911 obligations under the reseller rules that were part of the order depending on how their agreement was structured with the underlying licensee.

(3) Required that E911 services involving resellers of wireless services offered over cellular and broadband PCS spectrum be provided to customers under the Commission’s E911 rules. That expands those rules to wireless resellers as well as licensees. But it stipulated that because resellers didn’t control the underlying network, they were obligated to provide E911 services only to the extent that the underlying licensee had done so.

CTIA Pres. Steve Largent said his group supported the expansion of E911 requirements to include satellite phones and phones provided by wireless resellers, including prepaid and disposable phones. He said: “Today’s wireless products come in many shapes and sizes, and may be sold by any number of retailers. Yet only the phones sold directly by wireless licensees are required to locate callers when they dial 911 in an emergency.”

The FCC said that as part of the order, the further notice analyzed the E911 obligations of technologies ranging from PBXs in multitenant buildings to disposable wireless phones by examining 4 criteria: (1) Whether the service or device offered “real-time, 2-way voice service” that was interconnected to the public switched telephone network. (2) Whether customers using the service had a “reasonable expectation” of access to basic 911 and E911 services. (3) Whether the service competed with traditional mobile wireless or local wireline phone services. (4) Whether it was technically and operationally feasible for the service or device to support E911 capabilities.

As for the MLTS systems, part of the debate leading up to the FCC’s action involved its legal jurisdiction over building owners in setting E911 requirements. Some have stressed that the Commission still has purview over equipment manufacturers that serve such buildings. In a briefing, Deputy Wireline Bureau Chief Jeffrey Carlisle said the FCC “would have to go beyond what we typically do, which is impose requirements on carriers” to answer legal questions over the Commission’s reach on MLTS requirements. “We are actually going to have to reach out and reach the entities that have these PBX devices and other MLTS devices, such as hospitals, universities, the companies that have the PBXs.” Debate has involved the Commission’s authority to do so, he said. “We believe that we could comfortably assert jurisdiction to do so, but we want to be sure of the factual and legal basis before we assert that jurisdiction,” he said.

Most satellite phone operators already have the ability to locate callers, “so I can’t see them getting terribly excited. This is not a hot button issue,” said Ahmad Ghais, pres. of the Mobile Satellite Users Assn. MSS “has safety at its center,” he said, because it originally was used for maritime and distress alerting functions. Implementing E911 requirements will be more of a user concern, he said: “There are a lot of users who don’t want their positions publicly known. The question is, how do you make sure position [or] location is kept privileged?” That type of concern is likely to remain an issue until the service actually is needed and used, Ghais said: “The first person calling and being saved… will be grateful.”

A Telenor spokesman said that while the company still needed to evaluate the E911 order, it currently operated a global 24-hour customer care center in Rockville, Md.: “Based on the text of the release, we believe we're already compliant.”