VoiceStream told FCC it planned to submit petition for ‘limited r...

waiver request to FCC for implementing wireless PAS, in which Verizon said commercial, off-the-shelf technology wasn’t available that met agency guidelines. National Communications System (NCS), which issued request for immediately available PAS capability for Washington, N.Y. and Salt Lake City, had indicated earlier this month that Verizon would be tasked to provide short-term capability. VoiceStream Vp-Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Brian O'Connor told us this week that carrier was surprised to read earlier this month that Verizon Wireless had received contract from NCS for initial PAS rollout. (Both Verizon and NCS later had softened their statements to indicate that Verizon had been chosen but final agreement was still in works.) VoiceStream understands that award to Verizon won’t be exclusive, O'Connor said. “We will also have our opportunity to pursue the government contracts,” he said, noting that when press first reported award to Verizon, carriers such as VoiceStream still were in discussions with contract manager DynCorp on parts of process such as obtaining FCC waivers and required govt. clearances, O'Connor said. VoiceStream said it supported ability of wireless carriers “to obtain expeditious waivers of the Commission’s requirements under the present circumstances to respond to urgent government needs.” It said it was “more important than ever at the present time to maintain the voluntary provisioning of priority access by CMRS operators that wish to provide such service to the government.” Carrier asked FCC not to take steps that would result in promulgation of “specific technical solutions and administrative requirements” with which all participating wireless carriers must comply. VoiceStream said it had provided proposals to NCS using GSM technology for Washington and N.Y. on both immediate basis, meaning within 60 days, and near term, meaning by end of next year. VoiceStream said after meeting with its vendors that it had determined it immediately could roll out “more full-featured priority access capability” than it had proposed originally. VoiceStream has system, Enhanced Multi-Level Precedence and Preemption (eMLPP), that provides lineups of priority calls “for the next available resource when radio or network resources are not available.” VoiceStream said it would offer that on subscription basis. Once subscriber has activated account, that offering won’t require carrier to do anything in case of emergency because service would be “always on.” Users that have handsets with those signaling capabilities will be able to select particular priority level on per-call basis. Handsets aren’t yet available commercially although VoiceStream said it expected them soon from Ericsson. Until then, callers can use precedence level stored in their SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in particular phone.