“And in the end, what we’re talking about is still just radio. When you walk through the canyon streets of New York, drive into an underground parking garage in Los Angeles, or hike through a forest in the Northwest, radio has limitations.”
In other words, radios don’t always work perfectly and never will. Along with public safety and the wireless industry, the FCC recognizes that the laws of physics would never permit 100 percent accuracy. That is why, in a pragmatic example of the old saying that ”the perfect should never be the enemy of the good,” the FCC adopted rules for 911 accuracy based on a carrier’s success delivering accurate location information two-thirds of the time. (See Box for FCC Accuracy Criteria)
Even though successful implementation is more challenging than anyone anticipated, the expectations of the public and policymakers remain high, raising questions about how the FCC will puzzle out a regulatory strategy. While industry and public safety were supposed to be entering the victory lap on their deployment of these advanced services, according to the National Emergency Number
Association (NENA), as of July 1, 2005, PSAPs in fewer than half of the counties in the United States had deployed the technology needed to support Phase II capabilities. The wireless industry continues to support these life saving features, but the industry also believes providers should not be punished because
state and local governments haven’t provided the funding PSAPs need, for failing to do more than technology can support, or because consumers are more satisfied with their equipment and/or their carrier and are not interested in making any changes.
More Time, Please
In late June, CTIA-The Wireless Association® asked the FCC for help by filing a
request to suspend, or grant carrier-specific waivers of the December 31, 2005 deadline that requires carriers using handset-based Phase II technology to have 95 percent of their customers using handsets with location capabilities.
Under FCC rules, carriers using location based technology to pinpoint callers must
equip 95 percent of their subscribers with handsets containing GPS chips by December 31, 2005. According to the CTIA request, limited relief from the rule would ensure that wireless carriers that have made a good faith effort to comply with the 95 percent rule are not penalized. The stay CTIA has requested would not alter other FCC requirements. For instance, the FCC rules require 100 percent of
newly activated digital handsets to contain the location-finding technology.
