APCO and the National Emergency Number Association are backing down from demands for what carriers have insisted were unrealistically tough requirements in E-911 location-accuracy rules approved by the FCC in 2007. APCO and NENA said in a letter to the commission that they would be comfortable changing a central requirement. The FCC required that within five years carriers be able to determine the location of wireless emergency callers with 95 percent accuracy -- within 150 meters for carriers with handset-based solutions and within 300 meters for those with a network-based solution. Carriers would have to satisfy this requirement for each public-safety answering point rather than by averaging results across a state. The Rural Cellular Association, T-Mobile, Sprint-Nextel, Verizon Wireless and AT&T went to court to fight the order. In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stayed the order.nn"We recognize that satisfying this requirement at a PSAP or county level is especially difficult for many carriers due to variations in geography and system deployments," APCO and NENA said. "Thus, the Commission may want to consider either reducing the percentage of 911 calls from 95 percent or increasing the 150/300 meter metrics." APCO and NENA said they would be willing to measure wireless E-911 accuracy by the county instead of the PSAP. "In part, this reflects the changes that are occurring in the PSAP community, as some communities are consolidating 911 centers, and others are changing PSAP geographic boundaries to match county boundaries," the letter said. "Counties, unlike PSAP service areas, also reflect a stable geographic area and would be a more appropriate regulatory criteria." The groups also suggested that the FCC allow waivers on counties where carriers can't meet the requirement.
展开▼
