Text-to-911 Order Could See Split Vote at Friday FCC Meeting
The FCC could be headed for a 3-2 vote Friday on an order that would impose a text-to-911 mandate on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, plus interconnected over-the-top (OTT) text providers and smaller carriers. The FCC is also slated to vote an accompanying further NPRM. While eighth-floor discussions are ongoing, the two Republican commissioners, Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, have concerns about the order, agency and industry officials said.
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As the debate unfolds at the FCC, questions are being raised about whether the mandate for interconnected OTT providers like Apple’s iMessage or Samsung’s ChatOn is premature or even feasible at this point, the officials said. The mandate would not cover some of the most popular texting apps including WhatsApp. Another area of potential concern is that the order would impose rules on the big carriers even though they're already voluntarily transmitting texts to 911 call centers, officials said.
Under the order circulated by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the mandate would kick in at year-end, and allow an extra six months for carriers and interconnected OTT text providers to meet the requests of any public safety answering point that starts accepting emergency texts (WID July 21 p6). The four national carriers agreed last year to put procedures in place by May 15 so customers could text 911 in areas where the local PSAP is prepared to receive the texts.
"It’s a real technical dilemma,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “How do you actually do it, how do you pay for it and should you even mandate something where the technology is not tested and proven?” Berry questioned who would pay for changes to networks allowing OTT providers to transmit texts to PSAPs.
CTIA Assistant Vice President Brian Josef raised concerns about the order in calls to commissioner aides before the release of the sunshine notice on the order Friday, said an ex parte filing posted by the FCC Monday in docket 10-255. Josef advised the officials to “continue encouraging voluntary industry initiatives to support text-to-911 services and not codify or attempt to enforce a voluntary agreement,” the filing said (http://bit.ly/UZdbCz). Imposing rules will “undermine the efficiency, flexibility, and creativity values of voluntary efforts that the Commission has lauded in the past,” Josef said. “Taking action to codify or attempt to enforce voluntary commitments risks inhibiting stakeholders’ inclination to undertake future voluntary efforts.”