FCC issued report and order Mon. requiring wireless carriers to u...

for service with wireless operator. Because carriers typically assign dialable number to handset after customer signs service contract, that means noninitialized phones lack number for PSAPs to call back for more information when 911 is dialed. Those phones include 911-only units and unsubscribed cellphones distributed by carrier-sponsored programs to domestic violence victims and other groups. Order requires carriers to program noninitialized phones with 123-456-7890 as “phone number” that will be used to notify PSAP that 911 call is coming from wireless phone without callback capability. Commission also: (1) Required carriers to complete network programming needed to deliver that phone number from noninitialized or 911-only phone to PSAPs. (2) Mandated that phones be labeled to provide notification of lack of callback capability. (3) Required public education programs to inform users of limits of noninitialized phones. Those steps “will alert the parties involved in a wireless 911 call of the need for quick information as to the caller’s exact location, thus increasing the likelihood that emergency services can be dispatched quickly to save lives, while imposing limited burdens on wireless carriers and manufacturers of 911-only telephones,” FCC said. In 1997, Commission issued Enhanced 911 order that required commercial wireless carriers to forward all 911 calls to PSAPs, regardless of caller’s subscription status. New order Mon. said that since then, donation programs had been created by carriers in which old cellphones were collected by groups and donated to individuals who needed them, such as elderly. Also new are 911-only phones. FCC said that when PSAP received call from noninitialized phone, incorrect number or no number might be received. It said it had no evidence of scope of 911 traffic generated by such phones. Based on lack of data and on evidence that technical solution would require significant network changes at substantial cost, FCC said it wasn’t imposing callback solution on carriers “at this stage.” On labeling requirement, it said carriers “must design a prominently displayed and clearly worded label and affix it to each donated or manufactured noninitialized handset.” Label should alert caller that phone can be used only to dial 911, that 911 operator won’t be able to call user back and that user should convey exact location of emergency quickly. FCC said that if problem on scope of callback issue were backed up with more data and “proves to be much larger than it presently appears,” particularly when E911 Phase 1 is ubiquitous, Commission will revisit issue of requiring technical solution. In separate statement, Comr. Copps said he was pleased FCC would conduct separate proceeding on issue of E911 compliance for increasing number of wireless service that subscribers could use for 911 calls but weren’t traditional cellphones. “These include ‘911-only’ phones and disposable phones,” he said. “Not only must we address the responsibilities of providers of these phones to provide public safety functionalities, but we also must address the challenges some of these services create for the public safety community. I am particularly concerned with the problem of mistaken or frivolous 911 calls that can not be identified because they originate from non-service- initialized phones.”