In the latest round of reports to the FCC on Enhanced 911 impleme...

location capability by 2005. Verizon Wireless told the FCC it had rolled out E911 Phase 2 service to 128 additional public safety answering points (PSAPs) and Phase 1 service to another 331 since its last quarterly report, and now provided that location capability to 2,306 PSAPs serving 145 million residents. It also told the FCC it sold 19 GPS-capable handset models that could transmit location information for 911 callers. As of Oct. 15, Verizon Wireless said only 2,700 PSAPs (38% of the total in the U.S.) had requested Phase 1 E911 service and only 1,350 (19%) had sought Phase 2 information. “Verizon Wireless has successfully finished deploying E911 service to 85 percent of those requesting Phase 1 and to 61 percent of those requesting the Phase 2 service thus far,” it said. Separately, Nextel told the FCC it had deployed 353 PSAPs with Phase 2 services in the last 13 months and Phase 1 to 933. It said it had made 2 Assisted-GPS-capable handsets available in the last reporting period for a total of 4. “Nonetheless, the complexities of deploying Phase 2 technology, as well as in some cases PSAP readiness and PSAP ‘one-off’ operational or technical requests, create challenges requiring resources and cooperation among all parties to facilitate efficient deployments,” Nextel said. “Additionally, there continue to be literally thousands of PSAPs from whom Nextel has received neither a Phase 1 nor a Phase 2 valid request. As a result, Nextel’s ability to get E911 service to its customers is sharply curtailed by the readiness of many PSAPs throughout the country.” Among the issues that affect PSAP readiness, Nextel cited inadequate funding at the local, state and federal levels. “And given the status quo, the PSAPs likely will not be ready in the near future,” it said. Cingular said that in line with an Oct. 12 deadline for Phase 2 deployment, it rolled out Phase 2 technology at more than 1,600 cell sites as required by the FCC, “giving priority to fulfilling pending PSAP requests.” Cingular said that as of Oct. 30, it had rolled out Phase 2 technology at more than 2,000 cell sites in advance of a Dec. 12, 2003, FCC milestone. On its TDMA networks, Cingular said it received 479 requests for Phase 2 service, of which 460 were “valid.” It said it had deployed a solution in a service area that covered 393 of those requests: “Unfortunately, of the 393 deployments, 102 PSAPs (26%) still are not ready to accept the Phase 2 data.” Cingular told the Commission that many PSAPs weren’t able to complete end-to-end testing of the Phase 2 solution because of readiness problems, including a lack of upgraded equipment and improper connectivity between the PSAP’s automatic location information database and its equipment.