FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue directed ILECs to make pu...

cooperation as “missing link” in some E911 deployment situations. ILECs’ provision of facilities and equipment needed to receive and use E911 data elements also is part of E911 technical inquiry being led by former Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Dale Hatfield. Sprint PCS also has raised concerns at Commission on what it has characterized as lack of progress among LECs in upgrading automatic location information databases needed to support Phase 2. “The Commission has found that ILECs have an obligation to provide nondiscriminatory access to and interconnection with their networks for the provision of 911 and E911 services to wireless callers,” Sugrue said in July 29 letter. Letter was sent to Sprint, BellSouth, Qwest, Verizon, SBC, Alltel. “To date, the Commission has not imposed on any ILECs any special obligations in connection with wireless E911, but has committed to monitoring their role in E911 implementation to determine whether additional obligations are necessary,” Sugrue said. He said ILECs were “integrally involved” in provision of E911 capability, with upgrades to ILEC services and facilities often required to enable LEC to pass E911 information from wireless carrier to public safety answering point (PSAP). “In light of the role played by ILECs in E911 deployment, we have concluded that certain information from ILECs should be made publicly available,” Sugrue said. He asked ILECs to provide information including location of each automatic location information (ALI) database, all PSAPs that it served, type of interface that had been or would be installed to pass along E911 Phase 2 information. Bureau also is seeking information on dates by which necessary database upgrades will be completed, interface that will be available for testing with wireless carriers, PSAPs or 3rd party vendors and interface that will be available for launch of live E911 Phase 2 service to subscribers. Bureau wants information on type of data that each ALI database will be able to receive and format in which company expects to receive data. “Identify the manner in which your company expects wireless carriers, public safety entities and/or 3rd party vendors to interconnect with the ALI databases and selective routers your company operates,” Sugrue said. He requested ILEC information explaining how costs of facility upgrades needed to support wireless E911 would be recovered, such as whether it would be through contracts or tariffs.