Proposed FCC Order Carrying Out NET 911 Act Takes on Dual-Mode Phones
A proposed FCC order carrying out the NET 911 Act includes provisions on dual-mode phones and 911 strongly opposed by T-Mobile. The dual-mode provision is included although four members of the FCC have said publicly the matter should be left for later. The law requires the commission to approve an order by Oct. 21. The proposal has been before the FCC since Tuesday night.
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The proposed order would make clear that the act guarantees carriers access to “last cell site” information. The next step likely would be forcing T-Mobile and other carriers with dual-mode phones work out an agreement with all roaming partners so that at all times they have information on the latest cellsite “registered” by customers’ phones while in the roaming partner’s service territory.
T-Mobile sought clarification on rules for dual-mode phones in 2005, before launching its Unlimited Hotspot Calling service, which uses dual-mode Wi-Fi/GSM handsets. But the FCC had not acted on the petition. “It just seems outside the course of the law,” said an FCC official. “This doesn’t seem to be at the top of public safety’s list.” A second agency official said all commissioners except Kevin Martin agreed that dual-mode phones shouldn’t be taken up in the fast-moving proceeding.
T-Mobile said in an ex parte filing that it took part in meetings at the FCC this week to ask commissioners not to adopt new rules for dual-phone services as the agency completes action on the order. T-Mobile asked the FCC to put off action until the E-911 Implementation Office completes a report scheduled to be delivered to Congress in April.
“Public safety is not clamoring for immediate action,” T-Mobile said. “APCO and [the National Emergency Number Association] stated, ‘With regard to mobile VoIP services, such as dual-mode CMRS/Wi-Fi offerings … separate or follow-up proceedings may be warranted.” T-Mobile said that also under the act the FCC has no statutory requirements “to address dual mode CMRS services now.”
T-Mobile also said roaming rules that would require interconnection for 911 calls outside a carrier’s footprint aren’t technically feasible now. “Over a recent seven-month period, T-Mobile handled no 911 calls from dual-mode handsets that were placed outside its traditional wireless service area.” The carrier said only “a very small number” of calls made on dual-mode phones, 0.15 percent, were routed over Wi-Fi. “The ‘last known-cell-site’ proposal is burdensome to implement, likely cannot be reasonably operationalized, and would be obsolete before it is put in place,” T-Mobile said. Carriers that don’t have dual-mode phones would not want to offer roaming to T-Mobile, it said. “Because cell site data is competitively sensitive, a third party database would likely be necessary,” the company said. “Such a database would have to be kept up on a daily basis, but the many carriers that offer dual-mode services have no incentive to actually update the database.”
Congress didn’t direct the FCC to tackle dual-mode phones, said Jim Kohlenberger, executive director of the VON Coalition. “The FCC has several open dockets and petitions, each of which has a more thorough and robust comment cycle than the nine days provided here, which was intended to focus on opening up 911 access.”
Dual-mode phones may not be the only contentious aspect of the draft order. Another rule requires VoIP providers to certify to state agencies that they are compliant with state and federal 911 rules, an FCC official told us. The official questioned the rule, saying it means extra hoops for VoIP providers seeking 911 capabilities. The Net 911 Act required providers to register only with the FCC, Kohlenberger said. “The intent of Congress does not appear to be to erect new potential barriers and criteria for gaining access, but to remove the barriers that can accelerate 911 access.”