T-Mobile: No Consensus Emerging on Location-Based Routing of 911 Calls
Public safety groups and carriers continue to clash on what actions, if any, the FCC should take to ensure use of location-based routing (LBR) to 911 call centers. The disagreement surfaced in replies to a June public notice, approved by commissioners 4-0 (see 2206080040). T-Mobile warned that no consensus is emerging as a result of the record refresh.
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The public notice examines LBR and how to ensure calls are routed to the closest possible call center, even if made near a county or city border. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 18-64 as the FCC sought to refresh a record developed four years ago (see 1805080040).
Comments show “a fundamental lack of consensus on what steps, if any, the Commission should take,” T-Mobile said: “Commenters are in disagreement about nearly every aspect of the questions posed in the PN, including the feasibility, desirability, and benefits to public safety that would result from any regulatory requirements related to location-based routing.”
The National Emergency Number Association said AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, the three major national carriers, offer “broad support” for LBR and standards-based next-generation 911. “It is clear from the record that universal standards-based LBR is technically feasible and that early transitional LBR systems have had tangible positive results,” NENA commented: “Universal LBR will reduce response times for millions of calls in the United States by reducing the number of call transfers required. This will save lives.”
NENA also joined a brief filing calling on the FCC to “immediately move forward with a NPRM to address LBR by the carriers without delay.” Other signatories were the Texas 9-1-1 Alliance, the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications, Municipal Emergency Communication Districts Association and the National Association of State 911 Administrators. “The record is sufficiently developed for the Commission to move forward,” they said.
Microsoft, which didn’t file initial comments (see 2207120065), urged the FCC to build a broader record on 911 call routing in the internet age. “Internet-based services are originating more and more calls with and without [public switched telephone network] connectivity,” Microsoft said: “While the NOI focused on the use of location-based technologies for more accurate 911 call routing by wireless carriers, it is important to consider the evolution of location-based routing in the broader context of emergency calling capabilities now available through a range of devices and access connections.”
Calls and texts can be made today using mobile apps on wireless handsets as well as software clients on laptops, desktops and tablets, Microsoft said. “With decades of real-time location detection a part of the emergency response experience, we believe that now is the time to make a transition to emergency call routing that is based on a real-time calculation of a caller’s location through an assessment of all potential sources of location information,” the company said.
CTIA stressed that the FCC should give public safety answering points and carriers flexibility to work together to develop improved routing. “Any review of 9-1-1 call routing requires careful coordination between each wireless provider and each PSAP,” CTIA said: “The Commission should ensure that wireless providers and PSAPs have sufficient flexibility to utilize device-based location for call routing purposes in a collaborative, voluntary manner that accounts for each wireless provider and PSAP’s capabilities. … The Commission should recognize that PSAPs must continue pursuing solutions to enable seamless collaboration with adjacent and surrounding PSAPs, including shared mapping technologies and call-transfer capabilities.”