Rosenworcel Dissents on 911 Location Accuracy FNPRM; Starks Concerned

The FNPRM was tweaked while on the eighth floor to add questions about whether information on a caller's floor level also could be made available to first responders, officials said. It now asks privacy questions. Some public safety officials said after the meeting the 3-meter standard could help in some cases, especially in multistory office buildings, but most of the time will do nothing to help first responders because 3 meters could mean a call is on one of three floors.

Rosenworcel questioned how much the proposed standard will help. She cited Mary Thomas, a stroke victim in New York City, who waited eight hours for help to arrive when first responders couldn’t find her. What happened to Thomas “should not happen again,” she said. “We should choose standards that without fail provide floor-level accuracy. When police or firefighters show up in an emergency, the last thing they should have to do is take out a measuring tape.”

The proposal isn’t “ambitious enough,” Rosenworcel said. “Technology has evolved. It has improved. Our record reflects it is possible to locate 911 callers with more precision and I think we should be able to do it in less time all across the country.”

“I have every expectation that our proposal of plus or minus 3 meters will give our nation’s first responders useful information, perhaps life saving information, within the timeframes established by location-accuracy rules,” Chairman Ajit Pai said. He noted public safety groups strongly supported imposing a vertical standard and the FCC overruled an industry push for a 5-meter standard.

Pai praised Starks and his staff for their work on the FNPRM, saying nothing of Rosenworcel. “Your willingness … to work in good faith with us and to put the priority of public safety over political gamesmanship helped us improve the item,” he said of Starks.

“I make no apologies for pressing for tighter standards, stronger results, so that first responders can find you,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference in response to Pai. Starks clarified he voted for the order “because it is getting us started on saving lives” given available technology and is pleased the order was changed to add new questions: “We need to get to a place where we know where folks are on a floor.”

Starks said the notice doesn’t “set out a clear path or propose a plan to get to a greater level of accuracy than 3 meters,” which is why he concurred on parts. “Only floor level accuracy will give first responders the right tools to go to the right floor, the first time, every time,” he said.

The FCC would prefer the metric to be more accurate, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told reporters. “We have to accept where technology is at this current moment,” he said. The technology that will be required is still being looked at in an industry test bed, he said: “It’s not something that’s in the marketplace, that’s available.”

The FNPRM puts “a lot of options on the table … including seeking comment on whether we can do more,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. Whatever the FCC orders must be “implementable,” he said.

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said the FCC was right to include questions on privacy. “When people in trouble use a wireless phone to call 911, they want to know that first responders can find them no matter where they are -- but ‘first responders’ does not include bounty hunters, debt collectors, or stalkers who scam information from carriers by pretending to be police,” Feld said. APCO, which asked for floor-level identification, didn't comment.

Meeting Notebook

Pai suggested the FCC could work with rural states if they want to connect critical databases to the Lifeline national verifier of consumer eligibility. “If any rural state, South Dakota, Kansas, any of these states, want to pursue an automated connection with us in order to support the national verifier, then we are more than happy to work with them," he said, answering our question at the post-meeting news conference. The FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. decided through cost-benefit analysis not to connect the national verifier to some less-populated state databases of other government low-income programs used to check Lifeline eligibility. That contributed to high reverification failure rates in those states, putting subscribers at de-enrollment risk. Pai wouldn't say whether he would pause de-enrollments of consumers who can't be reverified or pause hard launches of the national verifier until system concerns are addressed. "When it comes to de-enrollments, our goal, of course, is to make sure that all existing eligible Lifeline subscribers ... as we transition to the national verifier, remain in the program," he said. "Otherwise, we are working actively with all stakeholders -- with the private sector, trade associations, with state government officials and others -- to ensure that this new national verifier is stood up in a way that guards against waste, fraud and abuse, and delivers on our fundamental priority, making sure ... every dollar that is dispensed through this program goes to somebody who needs the help. That is the ultimate promise for the Lifeline program and that is a promise we’re determined to deliver on.” Starks has "significant concerns if folks are getting kicked off, if folks are not being able to enroll that are otherwise fully eligible to be enrolled in the Lifeline program." The verifier "had a long time getting up and rolling, and now it sounds like ... the verifier is having problems in its execution phase as well," he said, noting he'll meet USAC CEO Radha Sekar in coming weeks: “I’m specifically going to address this because it is deeply problematic for Lifeline folks, that need this the most, that they are not getting the service that they need simply because the verifier can’t get things right.”

The FCC approved 5-0 an NPRM on how changes to spectrum partitioning, disaggregation and leasing rules “might further the agency’s goals of closing the digital divide and increasing spectrum access for small carriers and in rural areas.” It satisfies a Mobile Now Act requirement, said a news release. “We’re aiming to figure out whether any changes to those rules would help small carriers and wireless ISPs get better access to spectrum, such as by encouraging spectrum licensees to lease or sell spectrum to small companies serving rural areas,” Pai said. Many spectrum deals don’t get done because the cost of negotiations and paperwork outweigh potential economic gains, O’Rielly said. He's “somewhat skeptical that reducing performance requirements, providing some additional time for construction, or extending the license terms for operators that lease or sell spectrum will make a substantial difference.”

Rosenworcel slammed the Trump administration’s approach on the 24 GHz band in general after questions arose over protection for the band in the days before an auction started Thursday. House Science Committee members sought delay on concern with Earth observation sensors used for weather and climate forecasting, which use adjacent spectrum (see 1903130057). “This is embarrassing,” Rosenworcel told reporters. “In this administration, the right hand is not talking to the left. … We’re going to have figure out how to do better.” O’Rielly said the band's issues were resolved “long ago” and he's disappointed in recent “gamesmanship.” The band has been under review for years and the issues that surfaced were decided, Carr said. The auction will help the U.S. lead the world on 5G, Pai said. The 24 GHz auction closed its second day Friday, with $377.1 million in gross high bids after five rounds.

Starks urged pulling a draft broadband deployment report from consideration to address concerns one company's data may distort agency findings. Starks told reporters what has been alleged about BarrierFree data is "problematic," calling its possible overstatement of its broadband deployment reach by 60 million people a "staggering" number. "I'm still a little surprised, as far as I know, the [Telecom Act Section] 706 report is still on circulation," he said. "It certainly seems to me that it needs to be taken down. ... The report needs to be taken back to the chairman's office to further be worked." Starks said "more due diligence needs to be done looking at the data. ... It's the FCC's job to have accurate data." He understands there's an investigation. "We have said we are looking into the data issue, and we continue to do so," emailed an FCC spokesperson. Starks also questioned "the rosy picture" Pai portrayed in highlighting the draft report (see 1902190057). Free Press March 5 said BarrierFree's broadband data was "wildly" inflated, exaggerating Pai's claimed improvement in national deployment in 2017 (see 1903060034). BarrierFree acknowledged an error in its Form 477 filings of December 2017 broadband deployment data, and said March 7 it's working with the FCC to improve the data and expects the issue to be resolved soon (see 1903070054).