VERIZON WIRELESS RESCINDS PRIORITY ACCESS PETITION AT FCC
Verizon Wireless withdrew its waiver petition for priority access service (PAS) at FCC, saying it was working with National Communications System (NCS) on “a more comprehensive, industrywide” solution. Verizon Wireless had been in talks with NCS to provide immediate term PAS, which first would require FCC waiver because certain agency guidelines couldn’t be met with currently available equipment. Verizon spokesman declined to say whether talks with NCS had broken off, but withdrawal would point to that result because waiver was needed before govt. contract could be signed. PAS service had been scheduled to start in Washington and N.Y. Dec. 10, although that date had passed without agreement between NCS and carriers. What Verizon withdrawal, submitted after close of business Thurs., does to pace of wireless PAS rollout that NCS had set following Sept. 11 attacks wasn’t clear late Fri., although VoiceStream said it still was talking with NCS about agreement. “We are planning to go ahead,” said Brian O'Connor, VoiceStream dir.- regulatory and legislative affairs. Comments are due at FCC tomorrow (Tues.) on VoiceStream waiver request for PAS that’s still pending.
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Verizon Wireless had submitted waiver request to FCC last month (CD Nov 7 p7), telling agency that commercial, off-the-shelf technology that met agency guidelines wasn’t available. NCS had issued request Oct. 10 for immediately available PAS capability that could begin operating in Washington by Dec. 10, followed by N.Y. and Salt Lake City. Under system that Verizon had proposed, within one hour of being notified by NCS of emergency, it would have converted one carrier in each cell site from nonemergency to emergency use only. Remaining network capacity would continue to serve subscribers and roamers. NCS Deputy Mgr. Brent Greene had submitted filing to FCC backing Verizon request, saying system was “vitally essential to the security of this nation.” NCS submitted similar statement of support for VoiceStream petition.
In withdrawal of its waiver petition, Verizon Wireless said it “has determined, however, that the better course is to respond to the government’s emergency communications needs in ways that do not require FCC action at this time.” It said it was working with NCS on “more comprehensive, industrywide solution for providing government personnel with priority access to commercial wireless networks.” That joint effort “may yield a PAS solution that will meet all of the requirements of Section 64.402, thereby not requiring a waiver of the Commission’s PAS rule as would immediate PAS.” Verizon also said it planned to respond to specific emergency communications needs of govt. by increasing network capacity and ability of people to place calls. Such steps may include deploying portable cells-on-wheels (COWs) sites, rerouting traffic, distributing handsets and “sending company personnel to specific communities where sharply increased network traffic is expected or is occurring.” Verizon said that in aftermath of Sept. 11, it had deployed 21 COWs, distributed 7,000 free handsets to emergency workers and sent staff to emergency sites for assistance.
Of joint industry-govt. engineering effort, CTIA spokeswoman said NCS had set Feb. 15 for specifications on how comprehensive, industrywide system would operate. NCS has asked commercial carriers to be able to grant priority access to outgoing wireless calls by end of 2002, spokeswoman said. By end of 2003, NCS has asked that carriers be able to provide incoming calls and integrate service end-to-end through long distance and wireless networks so PAS would be “widely available.” Once specifications are in place, each carrier can work out issues such as how PAS can be applied to its network, how much it will cost and agreements with govt. on how much capacity will be made available.
Carriers have been turning attention to how balance will be reached under PAS between capacity that subscribers would have on network during emergencies and capacity set aside for govt. national security and emergency personnel. “We want to make sure that there remains a balance between people in a disaster who may be calling for 911 help and people who are providing emergency service,” CTIA spokeswoman said. Typical urban cell site handles average of 1,000 customers on 50 to 60 channels, CTIA spokeswoman said. Priority access calls during emergencies tend to be longer and more frequent than average commercial calls, she said, so typical urban cell site might handle 20 to 60 priority users. If in emergency situation 3 cell sites that usually handled 3,000 customers might be able to accommodate only 180 PAS users, spokeswoman said, precise numbers would depend on how many govt. users were given PAS priority. One solution to avoid such worst case scenario would be to give govt. certain amount of capacity that it would have to subdivide among pool of priority users, with other capacity set aside for other subscribers, so that calls such as E911 still would get through, spokeswoman said.
“While we are disappointed that Verizon Wireless has withdrawn its agreement to develop an immediate wireless priority access solution, we are continuing to move toward a fully FCC-compliant priority access process,” said Brenton Greene, deputy mgr. of NCS. Saying that agency had hoped to have PAS system in place by late 2001, Greene said: “We are working with major providers toward an alternate pilot project that will provide priority access to critical decision makers for national security and emergency preparedness while eliminating negative impacts on customer access to wireless networks.” Greene said NCS was “very happy” with industry efforts to create nationwide priority access service by year-end 2002.