Cingular Wireless asked FCC for waiver of Phase 2 Enhanced 911 (E...
Cingular Wireless asked FCC for waiver of Phase 2 Enhanced 911 (E911) Oct. 1 deployment deadline and relaxation of accuracy requirements on temporary basis. Carrier contended waiver was needed because solutions it planned for location information technology didn’t now…
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meet Phase 2 accuracy requirements and couldn’t be deployed by upcoming deadlines. Cingular wants waiver that would let it deploy Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) technology for its GSM networks and switch-based location technology on TDMA networks. As for E-OTD, Cingular said that this was “only viable option” for its GSM network, and other GSM carriers planned similar systems. E-OTD at outset won’t meet FCC’s handset-based accuracy standards but Cingular said accuracy would improve as software was refined. At start, technology will supply accuracy within 100 m of caller location 67% of time and 300 m 95% of time. Cingular said “industry consensus appears to be forming that E-OTD handsets will satisfy the Commission’s accuracy requirements by October 1, 2003.” Phase 2 rules require accuracy of position enabled-handsets within 50 m 67% of time and within 150 m for 95% of calls by Oct. 1. Cingular is proposing to deploy E-OTD as part of 25% of all handsets sold by Dec. 31, 40% by March 31, 2002, ratcheting up to 100% by Sept. 30, 2002. Carrier is proposing “safety net” location solution similar to network software solution that was part of VoiceStream waiver granted by FCC. VoiceStream solution provides that GSM subscribers without E-OTD handsets could be located within radial accuracy of 1,000 m for 67% of calls. “This will ensure that location information is available for the embedded GSM base,” Cingular said. Carrier is migrating its network from TDMA to GSM, but no existing solution will meet Phase 2 requirements, it said. It proposes rolling out switch-based technology for TDMA that can locate callers within 250 m for 67% of calls and 750 m for 95% of calls. Other carriers that have waiver requests pending before FCC include AT&T Wireless, Carolina PCS I, Nextel. Only large carriers without waiver proposals are Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. Cingular said it was selecting vendor for its switch- based Phase 2 solution and then would begin building required databases. First databases are designed to be areas where public safety answering point (PSAP) has submitted E911 request that is at least 6 months old.