The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
*Please note The Regulatory Mix will be on hiatus Wednesday, November 26th through Sunday, November 30th for Thanksgiving*
TELECOM
FCC
911 Service
The FCC released a Policy Statement and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to preserve reliable 911 service as technology evolves. In the Policy Statement, the FCC affirmed the “core principles that have guided and will continue to guide the FCC’s approach to 911 oversight – particularly its policy of working with state and local partners to ensure reliable 911 service.” The FCC said it believes that every entity with a role in 911 call completion should be guided by two principles:
- Any new elements of 911 architecture or service should have the necessary redundancy and reliability safeguards, along with the appropriate governance mechanisms, to maximize reliability and protect public safety.
- Significant changes in 911 service should be coordinated in a transparent manner with the FCC and state and local authorities.
“To the extent that technology transitions and changes in the market for 911 services create real or perceived gaps in the delivery of reliable and resilient 911 service, the Commission will act, in cooperation with state and local partners, to close those gaps and set clear expectations regarding each service.”
The NPRM seeks comment on specific proposals in four areas to set the nation on a path towards reversing the recent trend of large-scale 911 outages:
- Requiring 911 providers to make public notification of major changes to 911 service, so that 911 call centers and other stakeholders are aware of potential impacts, and to seek approval if they intend to discontinue critical 911 services.
- Requiring entities seeking to offer new 911 capabilities and services to certify that they have the technical and operational capability to do so reliably.
- Clarifying roles to promote situational awareness, information sharing, and coordination among multiple service providers during 911 outages.
- Updating the FCC’s 911 reliability certification requirements to account for new technologies and network architectures.
Wireless 911 Accuracy
The FCC is also seeking comment on a “Roadmap for Improving E911 Location Accuracy” (Roadmap) filed by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon. The Roadmap was filed in response to the FCC’s Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PS Docket No. 07-114) in which it proposed measures and timeframes to improve location accuracy for 911 calls originating indoors, including proposals related to horizontal and vertical location of callers. Comments are due December 10, 2014; reply comments are due December 17, 2014. Among other things, the FCC asks if the Roadmap presents a reasonable alternative, in whole or in part, to the proposals in its Notice.
Happy Thanksgiving from Technologies Management, Inc.!
The Regulatory Mix will be back on December 1, 2014
