Thursday, September 13, 2007

Latest FCC e911 Requirements


Last night the FCC passed new requirements for carriers to provide wireless e911 services. U.S. carriers will have until 2012 to achieve phase II location accuracy, which means locating devices to between 150 to 300 yards 95% of the time, depending on the technology in use. Be sure to check out last months post about the different technologies in use to satisfy these requirements and why all e911 calls aren’t created equal.

The FCC evidently decided that it needs to more closely project manage the whole thing this time around and is requiring carriers to meet interim milestones to ensure that they’re effectively working toward that goal. Given that the original goal was end of 2005, this is probably not a bad idea.

But the CTIA is not so happy with a new wrinkle that the FCC added… requiring that carriers test and achieve this level of accuracy down to the individual local e911 calling area rather than just achieving accuracy at a statewide average.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin comments "Meeting location accuracy standards on average in the entire state of New York by providing enhanced 911 capability in Manhattan does not help first responders in Buffalo."

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