News
Issue #2002 - 40 (October 2002)
(Updated Oct. 22, 2002)

INFRASTRUCTURE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES

U.S. Firms Have Tough Time Deploying Wireless 911

Equipping cell phones, wireless networks, landline networks and databases, and emergency dispatch centers to automatically calculate and display the location of a person dialing 911 from a cell phone is proving frustratingly complicated. When the Federal Communications Commission mandated that the service be available by 2005, the technology to achieve the goal did not exist. Currently, only one percent of U.S. emergency dispatch centers have made the complicated upgrades necessary to receive and display the location information. Some wireless carriers are having difficulty fine-tuning equipment that triangulates the location of a phone, and face getting permission from local zoning boards and property owners to attach a necessary antenna to their current sites. Sprint PCS is ahead of its competitors in deploying location technology. It is using Global Positioning System (GPS) chips in more than half the phones it sells. But the data still must be sent through a landline phone company database before it reaches the dispatch center. Work in that area also is proceeding slowly. (Source: AP) 

For more information: www.ap.org

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: Wireless 911 or e911 is an important public safety issue that needs to be addressed by all concerned parties - FCC, handset manufacturers, carriers/operators, public safety agencies, APCO, and dispatch center software vendors in one room. Perhaps, in US, Homeland security office needs to take the lead. If no firm direction is provided by the executive branch, carriers will keep on stalling the issue. Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is no will and issue is urgent, it has to be enforced. FCC in USA has been very considerate in listening to the concerns of the industry and has extended the time frame for compliance. But public safety dispatch center folks must match industry's capability. We do not think they are doing that. To upgrade all that software infrastructure in hundreds of thousands of agencies around the developed world is a monumental task. The writer is basing this remark on personal consulting experience.

We like the phased approach suggested by FCC in meeting requirements of e911. There has been considerable progress in location identification software and hardware. Operators are upgrading to newer network technologies. Operators should not expect favorable hearing from enforcement agencies when they they mix up their poor 3G business decisions with inability to meet e911 obligations. What good is MMS if we sacrifice our own safety in that pursuit?

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