Virgin Mobile USA, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that us...
Virgin Mobile USA, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses Sprint PCS’s underlying network, revised timeline for FCC on when it would begin selling Enhanced 911 Phase 2 handsets. As MVNO operator that resells Sprint services, Virgin Mobile isn’t…
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FCC licensee and phase-in mandates for E911 handset-location technologies don’t apply to it. Virgin said it was “voluntarily” providing FCC update on its plans “for informational purposes.” It said it would need to offer customers Assisted GPS (A-GPS)-enabled handsets to provide same location capability as Sprint PCS had chosen. Virgin Mobile told FCC that before it could offer those handsets, “such units need to be more plentiful and the price needs to be reduced so that there is not a tremendous price differential between units with and without A-GPS. This will take time.” Because larger carriers are ordering all of available early production A-GPS handsets, they aren’t available to Virgin now, company told FCC. Virgin Mobile said it expected to begin selling and activating A-GPS- enabled handsets by Sept. 23, ensuring that 25% of all new handsets activated after Sept. 30 were A-GPS-capable. By year-end, it said it would ensure that at least 50% of all new handsets were A-GPS enabled. All handsets activated after Sept. 30, 2004, would be A-GPS-capable.