The FCC has adequate legal authority to order wireless carriers...

asserted in a notice of proposed rulemaking approved Thursday (CD Sept 23 p6). “Since 1996, the Commission has exercised authority under Title III of the Communications Act to require CMRS providers, as spectrum licensees, to implement basic 911 and E911 services,” the notice stated. “This authority includes -- as a fundamental and pervasive element of the Commission’s licensing authority -- the power and obligation to condition its licensing actions on compliance with requirements that the Commission deems consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 also “confers authority” on the FCC “with respect to implementation of text-to-911 and other NG911 features to the extent that such implementation serves the statutory goal of ‘achieving equal access to emergency services for people with disabilities, as a part of the migration to a national Internet protocol-enabled emergency network,'” the notice said. The NPRM noted that “to date” there have been only a small number of SMS-to-911 trials in the U.S. including Black Hawk County, Ia., and Durham, N.C. “Several European countries, including Estonia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Sweden, and the United Kingdom offer emergency SMS services or are planning to offer such services in the near future,” the notice said.