Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Congress Joins Hunt For Unfulfilled, Under-Funded E-911

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 13:50:30 -0400

Congress Joins Hunt For Unfulfilled, Under-Funded E-911

May 7, 2003 9:43pm

Vol. 11 No. 9

Deploying wireless enhanced 911 services in the United States has taken on the
characteristics of a classic regulatory morass, replete with compliance schedules adjusted
in midstream, with multiple committees examining it and with fines levied against
companies failing to comply with it. The U.S. wireless E- 911 history (docket WT 94-102)
now also includes the element of states using for a rainy day fund some of the fees that
have been collected to pay for the services.

The latest panel addressing E-911 in the wireless landscape is the Enhanced 911
Coordination Initiative, convened by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael
Powell. The panel, whose first meeting was April 29 at commission headquarters in
Washington, D.C., follows up on the findings and recommendations from a report compiled
for the FCC in 2002 by Dale Hatfield, a former chief of the commission's Office of
Engineering and Technology (WDN, Oct. 23, 2002).

Powell launched the initiative as Congress' E-911 Caucus restarted its effort to
accelerate enabling PSAPs to pinpoint the location of wireless 911 callers accurately.
Congress created the caucus near the end of the 2002 legislative session to prod the
industry into action, and to make sure state and local governments provide funding needed
to upgrade PSAPs to handle Phase 2 location data.

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO) reports
that states have diverted nearly $500 million in levies on wireless customers' bills
intended to support E-911 programs, including upgrading PSAP equipment. But while 40
states collect E-911 surcharges on mobile phone service bills, few have regulations
stipulating how to use the funds.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) plans to introduce a
bill to prevent states from misallocating E-911 funds. Burns, a key ally in the wireless
industry's E-911 efforts, describes diverting the funds as "a raw violation of citizens'
trust." He says, "This situation is irresponsible, dangerous and cannot be tolerated."

However, lack of funding for PSAP upgrades isn't the major reason the industry has largely
failed to meet the Phase 2 deadlines. The lack of adequate technology has been the primary
factor. Petitions detailing technology problems prompted the FCC in October 2001 to grant
deadline waivers to most carriers, although it fined AT&T Wireless Services [NYSE: AWE]
and Cingular Wireless when it determined that those carriers didn't provide sufficient
reason for failing to meet Phase 2 requirements on their TDMA networks.

More recently, the commission proposed a $1.25 million fine against Deutsche Telekom's
[NYSE: DT] T-Mobile USA unit for failing to comply with Phase 1 requirements on 481
occasions. T-Mobile, which has not determined whether it will appeal the fine, also
informed the FCC it was abandoning its plan to use enhanced observed time division of
arrival (E-OTD) location technology; instead, it will use time differential of arrival
(TDOA) technology.

E-OTD has been expected to enable U.S. GSM operators--AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile
as well as smaller operators--to comply with Phase 2 requirements of the E-911 mandate.
However, T-Mobile followed the lead of other major U.S.  GSM operators in deciding that
E-OTD would not meet accuracy requirements.

Despite pressure from Congress and growing public awareness about the lack of wireless
E-911 coverage, the FCC could be creating more problems in the implementation process by
compelling operators to switch location technologies. The commission also impeded E-911
progress by requiring different accuracy performances for handset- and network-based
technologies, says Naqi Jaffery, president of Telecom Trends International.

"The thing is, companies are making a sincere effort to deploy the technology and if they
are running into minor issues, I don't think the FCC should take the extreme step of
saying, 'We are going to impose heavy penalties on you," Jaffery tells Wireless Data News.

The other major U.S. carriers--Verizon Wireless, Sprint PCS [NYSE: PCS] and Nextel
Communications [Nasdaq: NXTL]--are using GPS-related location technologies across their
footprints or GSP in some markets and network-based location systems in others.

However, Nextel is floating the idea of eliminating the Phase 2 deadline for carriers
relying on handset-based technologies to determine location information. Nextel contends
that a carrier's growth and the corresponding distribution of location-enabled phones and
not a regulatory deadline should determine the implementation of E-911 location services.

However, FCC officials indicate little support for Nextel's idea. APCO also doesn't agree
with Nextel. "The point is PSAPs are working hard to implement the technology because this
is a matter of life and death," APCO Acting President Vincent Stile says.

In addition, APCO is at loggerheads with Nextel as well as with Cingular and T-Mobile over
those carriers' petitions asking the FCC to reconsider its "Richardson Decision" (docket
WT 03-76), which sets criteria for determining the requirements of PSAPs to apply for
Phase 2 location services from wireless carriers. The association says reconsidering the
decision--named for the town of Richardson, Texas, which filed the request that led the
FCC to set the criteria- -would slow the progress the wireless industry and public safety
operations are making for Phase 2 coverage.

>>Sen. Conrad Burns, 202/224-2644; Courtney McCarron, APCO, [email-masked]; Naqi
Jaffery, Telecom Trends
International, [email-masked].<<
Basic Characteristics of Location Technology Options
TDOA           E-OTD           A-GPS
Accuracy                 70-300 meters  50-250 meters*  50-150 meters
Speed of response        10s            10s             10s
Legacy handsets          Yes            No              No
Indoor operation         Yes**          Yes**           Limited
Handset modification     No             Software only   GPS handset required
Network modification     Yes            Yes             Yes
Cost to network carrier  High           Medium          Medium***
Standardized             No             Yes             Yes
Source: Telecom Trends International; * based on extensive carrier trials;
** Indoor operation is possible in some locations, not possible in others;
*** Network costs are lowest for DMA networks, but higher for GSM networks

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