Verizon Wireless told the FCC in an Enhanced 911 quarterly status...

it had: (1) Met milestones for finalizing the rollout of the network-assisted part of its Assisted GPS/Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AGPS/AFLT) in Lucent and Nortel markets by last April and last Aug., respectively. (2) Completed deployment of the network-assisted part of AGPS/AFLT in its Motorola markets by March 1. (3) Deployed Phase 1 E911 service to another 125 public safety answering points (PSAPs) since its last quarterly report to the Commission in May. Verizon said it now offered Phase 1 E911 service to 1,975 PSAPs. (4) Rolled out Phase 2 service to 244 additional PSAPs since its last report. It now offers Phase 2 service to 699 PSAPs. (5) Introduced an interim Enhanced Forward Trilateration Link solution in markets served by Lucent and Nortel switches that was activated along with the Phase 2 AGPS/AFLT service to PSAPs that requested it. Verizon Wireless also told the Commission it now sold 15 GPS-capable handsets that could transmit caller location. The carrier said it had met the FCC’s 25% handset deployment target set by the FCC that was to be met by March 30. Verizon said 35% of the new handsets activated in the period ending March 30 met that target. It has another milestone that at least half of all handsets sold be compliant with those caller location capabilities by Dec. 30. Verizon said it now was selling handsets to meet the deployment target. In addition to detailing the counties where E911 Phase 2 requests by PSAPs had been met, Verizon Wireless said that more than a year after meeting deployment deadlines in St. Louis County, Mo., and Chicago, PSAPs hadn’t yet acquired certain LEC upgrades needed to activate their E911 service. In the case of St. Louis, the company said the county’s PSAP was disputing selective router charges by Southwestern Bell, which it said wouldn’t install facilities for the wireless carrier until it received confirmation that its charges for the selective router would be paid. The county has declined to pay the charges since Jan. 2002. Verizon said that problem had prevented it from turning on Phase 1 and Phase 2 technology it deployed in the county more than a year ago. In some cases LECs are “declining to provision trunk orders until an interconnection agreement amendment is finalized to cover E911 services,” the carrier said. “Disputes with LECs over the appropriate party to bill for various network charges has also delayed implementation.” In other cases, the carrier said a handful of state 911 authorities had asked it to provide a “proof of concept” demonstration before they would authorize deployments in a particular state. “This process can significantly forestall meeting the 6-month deployment window, especially if the 911 authority is testing with multiple carriers on a sequential basis,” Verizon said. In some cases, even if such a demonstration isn’t required, state 911 bodies must approve a carrier’s deployment plan before work can move forward, it said.