Wireless carriers lined up at FCC to oppose petition by Richardso...

earlier this month, wants Commission to confirm that PSAP makes valid request for such service by informing carrier that necessary equipment upgrades for Phase 2 service will be finalized before delivery of E911 data by carrier and by having adequate cost- recovery mechanism in place to upgrade equipment. Echoing comments of other carriers, Verizon Wireless urged FCC this week to deny petition. PSAPs must be able to receive and use E911 data as condition of valid request, Verizon argued. PSAP must have capability to receive this enhanced location information at time that it makes request to carrier, Verizon told FCC. In part, Verizon said Richardson’s petition doesn’t acknowledge that FCC requirements “balanced the objective of rapid E911 deployment with that of mitigating carrier’s costs and ensuring that PSAPs timely upgrade their own networks.” CTIA also urged Commission to reject Richardson request. “Richardson’s request should be denied because it is bad public policy, it conflicts with the Commission’s rules and the Commission already has addressed the matter.” CTIA argues in comments that policy based on PSAPs’ intention to upgrade their equipment would be faulty, because sometimes such plans don’t materialize and carriers are left sorting through requests from agencies that both have and haven’t completed upgrades.