With an FCC commissioner vote scheduled for Thursday on improving the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points (see 2210270067), a few tweaks remain possible to the FCC’s approach, industry officials said. The 10th floor is still considering filings made at the end of last week seeking a few changes to the draft order, officials said. APCO filed late last week and other filings were expected (see 2211100051).
APCO officials raised concerns about a draft FCC order on rules to improve delivery of outage information to public safety answering points, set for a commissioner vote next week (see 2210270067). A filing on a meeting with Public Safety Bureau staff wasn't posted by the FCC. CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association and other groups are also expected to raise industry concerns. “Emergency communications centers (ECCs) should be notified of outages and disruptions that could impact communications with ECCs, even if the outage does not meet the high thresholds that trigger a notification requirement in the existing rules,” APCO said: “The draft order does not address modifying the notification thresholds. The Commission should seek information from service providers that would be helpful for modifying the notification thresholds to better align with public safety considerations and reduce the number of outages going unreported.” APCO notes among other concerns that an earlier NPRM asks about “the extent to which service providers have or could have graphical outage information and how ECCs would use such information,” the group said: “The draft order partially addresses this issue, but only with regard to the provision of geographical information system (GIS) data. This is unnecessarily limiting and fails to consider alternative methods for providing ECCs with visual information about outages. For example, emailed notifications could include an image of the affected area, and service providers could maintain web-based portals for real time network status maps.”
The FCC will vote Nov. 17 on rules aimed at improving the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points by requiring operating service providers (OSPs) and covered 911 providers to “utilize special diligence to obtain and maintain up-to-date contact information for each 911 special facility they serve,” said a draft report and order released Thursday. The FCC also announced that it won't be pursuing an inquiry into the agency's reliance on Nielsen ratings in a draft broadcast order on updating the publication used to determine broadcast DMAs (see 2210260081).
Hurricane Ian caused large wireless outages in Florida's southwest where the storm made landfall, the FCC said Thursday. The FCC report covered network outage data submitted by communications providers through the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) as of Thursday at noon. The FCC will monitor the situation and is "committed" to ensuring communications are restored, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel after Thursday’s commissioners' meeting.
The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee approved a report on robotexts Tuesday, during what is scheduled to be the last meeting of the group's current iteration. The vote was unanimous with only AARP abstaining. AARP didn’t comment on why it abstained. The committee turned down an Incompas amendment on the difficulty some public interest groups are reporting gaining access to 10-digit long codes (10DLCs) (see 2208160054). CAC meetings have been virtual since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
California bills to require wireless eligibility for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and to fund the 988 mental health line passed the legislature Thursday and will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for signature. As California legislators head into their final week, several communications bills on broadband, social media and free inmate calls await floor votes (see 2208120039).
The Alarm Industry Communications Committee told the FCC it supports a National Association of State 911 Administrators' (NASNA) petition for a rulemaking or notice of inquiry to fully implement next-generation 911 (see 2110190066). “AICC joins NASNA in urging the Commission to initiate a rulemaking to establish its regulatory authority over the delivery of NG911 services” through emergency services IP networks, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-479: “FCC regulation is necessary to protect the integrity of those services and the ability of [public safety answering points] to do their jobs, as well as to ensure that service providers have adequate and reasonably priced access to network facilities.”
The ATIS Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) asked the FCC to modify its network outage reporting system rules to encourage public safety answering points and 911 authorities to give covered 911 providers data on population counts served by the call centers. The committee also asked the FCC to require covered 911 service providers “to use census or population data derived from other sources instead of telephone number counts to determine ‘user minutes’ threshold criteria.” The petition, posted Friday, asks the FCC to prevent over-reporting of outages by setting a de minimis exception for outages “that affect four (4) or fewer macro cell sites located in Rural Service Areas or 14 or fewer macro cell sites located in Metropolitan Service Areas,” among other proposed changes. “ATIS NRSC recommends changes to Sections 4.7 and 4.9 of the Commission’s rules to facilitate the transition from legacy to [next-generation] 911 systems and to support continued, timely notification of outages in NORS as well as to PSAPs by NG911 systems,” the filing said.
New York state awarded $100 million in emergency communications grants to 57 counties and New York City through the Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant (SICG) program, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Wednesday. It included $90 million in SICG formula-based grants and $10 million for public safety answering point operations, the governor’s office said.
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.