Tennessee approved a statewide trial of text-to-911 service as part of a new emergency service Internet Protocol network (ESInet), AT&T said Tuesday. “AT&T will work with the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board to provide a Text to 9-1-1 trial service, allowing for emergency 9-1-1 Short Message Service (SMS) text messages from AT&T wireless subscribers to be received by Tennessee 9-1-1 call centers,” the carrier said (http://xrl.us/bnon6d). “The trial will use the existing ESInet and statewide IP network backbone, key components in the state of Tennessee’s Next-Generation 9-1-1 plan.” National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes “applauds” the trial and anticipates text-to-911’s availability nationwide, he said in a statement Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnon5n). The trial “will enable PSAPs [public safety answering points] in Tennessee to begin receiving 9-1-1 SMS texts from AT&T wireless subscribers through the state’s ESInet” and “will allow PSAPs to develop best practices and methods to receive and integrate these types of emergency communications in the future,” AT&T said.
Forcing public safety agencies to move off the T-band will have an impact on communications interoperability, according to early results of a poll released Thursday at the quarterly meeting of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. Public safety got the 700 MHz D-block in the February spectrum law, but in return had to give up the T-band, heavily used in 11 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. In August, NPSTC sent out a questionnaire (http://xrl.us/bnkk2a) to gather information as the group prepares a report (CD Aug 14 p6).
Carriers already have multiple incentives to make their systems robust in the event of emergencies, and the FCC shouldn’t impose additional regulations, CTIA said in reply comments to a public notice asking about communications following the June 29 derecho wind storm. T-Mobile and MetroPCS offered similar comments. Carriers potentially face new backup power requirements in the wake of the 911 problems encountered in the days following the massive storm, which packed high winds and shut off power to millions (CD July 20 p1). The FCC imposed a requirement once before, later dropping the post-Hurricane Katrina mandate (CD Dec 2/08 p1) before it could take effect. Several jurisdictions in the Mid-Atlantic region expressed continuing 911 concerns.
Hurricane Isaac-related calls overloaded a Louisiana public safety answering point (PSAP) Aug. 30, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnoiic), identifying the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office PSAP. “The center had been overloaded with requests for service and all the telecommunicators, who were also victims of the storm, had been working non-stop,” NENA said. An eight-member Louisiana Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce attempted to aid the PSAP, which had staff “who were pushing 40 hours on-duty without relief,” according to NENA. The PSAP had requested the task force’s aid.
A group of 28 trade associations led by the Express Association of America (EAA) pushed the Senate Finance Committee to take up legislation to raise the de minimis level for low value shipments. The signatories said in the letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mt.) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that they should support a Senate companion bill to HR-1653, which would raise the minimum import value for goods requiring customs documents or duties. Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of the letter.
The ITU-T study group on numbering will approve revisions to a recommendation on the presentation of information related to national numbering plans, and a new recommendation on the implementation of country code 888, which has been assigned to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), unless sufficient objections are raised by Jan. 10, the director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau said in a letter to members. A formal approval process is required because of regulatory considerations. The proposed revisions deal with presentation of information on national numbering plans to all interested parties, including information on changes that influence routing, charging and accounting of international telecom traffic, a draft document said. The recommendation also helps to collect other information, such as national-only numbers related to emergency and other important services, such as child help numbers, and information on the implementation of E.164 number portability, the draft text said. E.164 numbers comprise the international public telecom numbering plan used in the public switched telephone network and some other data networks. The new recommendation asks governments to invite operators to implement the country code 888, the draft text said. The country code has been assigned to OCHA to spur the provision of an international system of naming and addressing for terminals involved in disaster relief activities in an area of a country that has been cut off from its national telecom system until normal operations can be restored, it said. The use of these numbering resources will thus be relatively short-lived and may be reused at a later date for another location, it said.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is being crafted in secret and in a way that could hurt consumers’ digital rights, public interest groups said Wednesday during a telephone briefing hosted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Texas Association of Broadcasters President Ann Arnold, 67, died Saturday. She had leukemia. During her 25-year tenure at TAB, she became an expert on the emergency alert system, and in 2005 was president of the National Alliance of State Broadcast Associations. Arnold was the first female press secretary to a Texas governor, Mark White (D), in the 1980’s and before that was a newspaper and wire service reporter. Two sons and a sister survive.
The FCC should share various reports that are written and the record developed on the effects of the June 29 “derecho” wind storm with the new FirstNet board of directors “as it begins its work in planning the nationwide, interoperable public safety wireless broadband network,” the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bnodts). “One of the Board’s duties is to ensure the resiliency of the new network,” NATOA said. “Unfortunately, the comments submitted to date show that even though emergency procedures had been put in place to address the potential loss of commercial power, current network monitoring practices, backup power plans (batteries and generators), and efforts to improve network diversity and redundancy failed in many jurisdictions."
The Democratic Party released its national platform in advance of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte Sept. 4-6. Trade-related aspects of the platform include support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), increasing exports, enforcing “fair trade” with China, and establishing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia, among other things. Highlights of the platform include: