Issues involving text-to-911 and wireless location accuracy for 911 call routing should be referred to the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council or the Office of Engineering and Technology for consideration, said the Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority in a filing in docket 11-153. BRETSA is concerned that as wireless services migrate to LTE-IMS, vital text-to-911 capabilities will be lost, it said. SMS text messaging over cellular-mobile service (CMS) control channels currently allow CMS subscribers to communicate by text message well beyond the area where CMS coverage is sufficient for subscribers to make voice calls, it said. BRETSA worried that even as text-to-911 is being deployed, substantial public safety benefits of the service will be eliminated as a result of the evolution of CMS technology and systems. These issues require technical information and analysis, knowledge of the capabilities of CMS provider systems, and cost-benefit analyses that aren't generally available to public safety agencies and public safety answering points, the filing said. BRETSA asked the Public Safety Bureau to refer these concerns.
Increased broadband access is needed for the Smart Cities initiative to succeed in helping in such areas as reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime and making local governments more accessible, NTIA said in a blog post. Expanding broadband access and adoption has been a key goal of NTIA, the post said, but while progress in connecting communities has been good, much work remains. As part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NTIA invested $4 billion to help upgrade or expand broadband in unserved and underserved communities and to promote digital literacy and broadband adoption, the post said. Those broadband grantees deployed more than 115,000 new or upgraded network miles, connected nearly 26,000 community anchor institutions such as schools and hospitals, and installed or upgraded more than 47,000 personal computers in public access centers, it said. The grant program is nearly complete, but NTIA is still working with communities to overcome broadband challenges, through its BroadbandUSA initiative, Broadband Funding Guide and an Introduction to Effective Public-Private Partnerships, plus other tools that NTIA will release this year, the post said.
NTIA will hold a "Digital Northwest" regional broadband summit March 21 aimed at helping communities improve their broadband capacity and utilization, said a notice to be published in Wednesday's Federal Register. "The summit will present best practices and lessons learned from broadband network infrastructure build-outs and digital inclusion programs from the State of Washington and surrounding states, including projects funded by NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and State Broadband Initiative grant programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The summit will also explore effective business and partnership models and will include access to regional policymakers, federal funders and industry providers." NTIA said the meeting, which will be held at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT, is being organized under its Broadband USA program and in conjunction with Next Century Cities.
The FCC shouldn't take away states' roles in the Lifeline eligible telecom carrier designation process because that could increase waste, fraud and abuse, said the California and Pennsylvania public utilities commissions in FCC filings in docket 10-90 and 11-42. The FCC should also retain the rule that only ETCs are able to obtain Lifeline universal service support reimbursements, the Pennsylvania letter said. The PPUC believes Section 254(e) of the Telecom Act makes it clear that a common carrier must fulfill the condition of being designated as an ETC before it is eligible to receive federal universal service support, it said. "Section 214 is an express acknowledgement that the ETC designation process is within the purview of the states." The CPUC agreed, adding that the FCC should continue to strengthen the ETC designation process.
Virtual voice-controlled assistants (VAs) are likely to be a part of FirstNet's network, FirstNet said in a blog post Monday. FirstNet envisions a public safety equivalent of Siri or Google Now. “The role of the VA is an evolution of voice-control features,” FirstNet said. “While the initial use was for simple scenarios like dialing a hands-free call while driving, the technology soon became coupled with the same natural language speech recognition that allows a user to enter text in documents without a keyboard.” Many first responders already make the kind of VA requests consumers would on their commercial cellphones, FirstNet said. Use of a special kind of VA is dependent on secure access to appropriate databases, security and development of discipline-specific jargon or commands, among other requirements, FirstNet said. But FirstNet users potentially will be able to ask questions like “Who is the registered owner of tag number 123-XYZ and provide address information? Where’s the nearest fire hydrant to 1234 Pelham Place in Oakland? What’s the criminal history on John Doe from Kansas City?” the blog post said. The FirstNet Chief Technology Officer Devices Group filed the post.
Google Fiber is rolling out in Huntsville, Alabama, using part of a fiber network that municipally owned Huntsville Utilities plans to build, Google said in a blog post Monday. Google said it has built most of its fiber networks from scratch but found every city was unique, prompting it to take different approaches in different places. "Few places are better positioned than Huntsville to show what’s possible with top Internet speeds. The Rocket City boasts the highest concentration of engineers in the country, and ranks among the best places in the country for STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] workers. Ultrafast Internet will help enable Huntsville to remain at the forefront of science and tech," said Google, which noted it responded to a collaboration request from the city to fiber providers. Google said that Huntsville Utilities will design and construct its network after receiving final approvals. "Google Fiber, or any other broadband provider" will then be able to provide high-speed Internet service to the city's residents, Google said, noting that Huntsville will join 20 other metropolitan areas where the company is "serving customers, designing and building networks, or exploring the possibility of Google Fiber." Fiber to the Home Council Americas applauded Google and Huntsville for their public-private partnership to bring gigabit fiber to the city's residents. "All fiber networks are essential for communities," FTTH Council CEO Heather Burnett Gold said in an emailed statement. "Each community should have every opportunity to get better broadband."
The FCC Wireless Bureau gave Teach, a nonprofit based in rural Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, a waiver of the commission’s freeze on nonexclusive licenses in the 3650-3700 MHz band. The Teach program, which supports initiatives tied to “broadband availability, GED and higher education attainment, National Career Readiness Certificate, and soft skills certifications, and college and career readiness,” says it learned of the freeze only after getting a grant and buying transmission and customer premise equipment, the bureau said Friday. “TEACH states that it now has secured rights to use space to mount its transmission equipment at all five proposed access points within Muhlenberg County, and is completing coordination in order to apply for five new 11 GHz point-to-point links for network connectivity and backhaul.” The bureau said granting the waiver to Teach “on the basis of its unique circumstances would serve the public interest.”
The Telecom Subcommittee and full committee adopted four resolutions over the weekend with very few major changes during NARUC's meeting in Washington. Most of the changes were grammatical with a few word additions and deletions. The resolutions (see 1602040062) include one that focuses on Lifeline overhaul and keeping states involved so as to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Another would support preserving the fundamental features of legacy services during the IP transition. A third would back streamlined access to rights of way on federal lands to accelerate broadband deployment. The last is on FCC process overhaul. The full NARUC board meets Wednesday to vote whether to adopt the resolutions officially.
While coverage on tribal lands has improved over the past few years, native American leaders are still frustrated and confused by telcos' lack of willingness to help bring service to their people, some said during a panel at NARUC’s meeting in Washington. Because wireless companies don’t always make it easy for the tribes to build out new service, many times the tribes become their own communications companies, said CEO Forest James of tribal communications firm EnerTribe and a member of the Smith River Tribe. American Indian Chamber of Commerce California President Tracy Stanhoff said it doesn’t make sense to her that telcos don’t want to partner with tribes given that tribes that put in their own infrastructure and start a service, immediately get customers. Sidney Dietz, Pacific Gas & Electric regulatory relations director, said PG&E's Lifeline product has good adoption rates, has built its own towers to improve service and is starting to build out more broadband so tribal members can keep up with current technologies.
The Richmond, California, police department is now accepting text to 911 as a part of the switch to Next-Generation 911, a spokeswoman said. The department provides fire and emergency medical service and dispatches police services for the cities of Richmond, San Pablo, El Cerrito and Kensington, she said. The department uses a Web-based program through TeleCommunication Systems to accept the text messages and has received at least a dozen texts -- reporting gunshots and less serious crimes -- since the program went live at the end of January, the spokeswoman said. "We thought that being able to text 911 was important for the hearing/speech impaired community, this gives them a way to contact us directly without using a third party," she said in an email. "It allows those that would be in danger by placing a 911 voice call a way to contact emergency services."