The Tier 3 Coalition, which includes a group of small wireless carriers, urged the FCC to act on a forbearance proposal they filed in Nov. The petition would extend forbearance on certain Enhanced 911 requirements for a limited period, up to Dec. 31, 2005. If granted, the carriers told the Commission in a filing last week, they still would have to comply with most of their E911 obligations, including selecting, ordering, installing and optimizing Phase 2 technical solutions within 6 months of a public safety request or Sept. 1, 2003, whichever came later. They told the FCC that “no commercially available” Phase 2- compliant E911 location system now available could be deployed economically and meet accuracy standards through a licensed rural area. “Moreover, there is no record of support for imposing the same quantitative accuracy standards derived for a dense urban area on a sparsely-populated Tier 3 rural area where a 911 caller can be physically located more quickly notwithstanding a more flexible accuracy requirement,” the carriers said. They said that during the proposed forbearance period, stakeholders would work to overcome the many issues that continue to beset E911 Phase 2 solutions in the smallest rural markets served by the smallest group of wireless carriers -- Tier 3. “As these matters are resolved, E911 accuracy and reliability in Tier 3 markets can be expected to improve,” the filing said.

Comr. Abernathy, speaking on the sidelines of the CTIA show, said a Nextel suggestion that a final deadline for Enhanced 911 Phase 2 handsets be removed was likely receive a cool reception at the FCC. “I think there would be major issues associated with such a request,” she said. Nextel officials said here Sun. they would like the FCC to remove its ultimate deadline of 2005 for requiring 95% of wireless handsets in a carrier’s existing subscriber base be Enhanced 911 Phase 2-enabled (CD March 18 p4). They stressed that interim deadlines leading up to that date addressed future handset sales and that the 2005 date was retroactive, posing particular challenges for operators with low customer churn. “When the FCC first looked at this question of whether to allow both the handset and the network solution, at that time the carriers came in and made this commitment around the 2005 date,” she said, “they were basically saying, ‘we know that at the back end there could be problems but we commit to doing whatever it takes at the back end to reach the penetration numbers.'” Abernathy said that was what gave the Commission comfort with the handset-based approach, in addition to network solutions. With a network-based E911 solution, the entire system could come on line at a certain time, while handset-based solutions would require ultimate upgrades in handsets for each subscriber. “What they would be asking the FCC is to completely rethink the use of allowing a handset solution, as far as I know most of the carriers that have committed to handsets recognize that they need to get the handsets out in the market and there may come a day when, with the natural market churn, they'll have to go beyond that, to stimulate even greater acceptance of the handset solution,” she said. Abernathy toured the New Orleans Parish Public Safety Answering Point, which has implemented Enhanced 911 Phase 1 and has the equipment for Phase 2 location capability ready to go. The FCC recently announced an E911 Coordination Initiative to bring together various stakeholders on implementation issues, including carriers and PSAPs. “The coordination initiative is the recognition that while the FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction over, nor can we fix, every piece, we can certainly bring together all the parties that are involved and share best practices,” Abernathy said, saying that included giving ideas to cash-strapped communities on how others had solved E911 funding or equipment challenges. The initiative will examine the obligations of LECs as part of E911 and what happens when they aren’t met. “There is no question in my mind that when you look at the obligations of the wireless carriers and the wireline carriers, there we have direct regulatory oversight and we can do what needs to be done to make sure that those parties are not the ones that are the hold-up in delivering the service to the consumers,” Abernathy said.

Sprint is exploring using a UNE-platform (UNE-P) to provide a bundled offering that would include local, long distance and, for the first time, wireless, Sprint PCS Pres. Len Lauer told the CTIA show Tues. “We will make a decision in the next couple of weeks,” Lauer said, noting that a market test was about to wrap up. Lauer spoke on a panel of wireless CEOs who addressed, among other issues, what the pathway was for wireless to begin aggressively substituting for wireline local service. He has described the possible UNE-P bundled offering for local services in recent months, including on the company’s recent earnings call and at an investor conference last fall, a spokesman said. The wireless industry averages 500 or 600 min. of use per month, while a landline local provider might see closer to 1,500 min. of local calling in that period, Lauer said. One challenge to getting consumers to cut their wireline phone service entirely for local calling is that PSAPs must implement Enhanced 911 capabilities more widely, he said. “That really needs to occur for us to have a credible solution to go to the consumer and say cut the line,” Lauer said. The technology piece for Sprint to such a bundle includes an integrated solution that would address in-home penetration by repeating the wireless signal, he said. That in-home “hub” also would include a docking station so that a subscriber could park a mobile handset into a device like a laptop and it would act “just like a regular landline phone in the house.” While wireless will be part of this bundled offering, the company will carry it out through the long distance arm of its global markets group that “already has that capability,” Lauer said. “So we will just share that capability, that suite of assets if you will, of our long distance arm and market that to our wireless customers.” The company is working toward a price point for the integrated hub structure below $200, he said. “We think that will be very affordable and that’s without any subsidization,” he said.

NEW ORLEANS -- Nextel top brass here called Sun. for removal of the FCC’s deadline for 95% of wireless handsets to be Enhanced 911 Phase 2-ready by end of 2005. The carrier has met the Commission’s interim benchmark dates for selling new Phase 2 handsets, but the problem is a final 2005 deadline that would require carriers retroactively to ensure that 95% of all handsets in their subscriber base met Phase 2 automatic location capabilities, Nextel Senior Vp-Chief Regulatory Officer Robert Foosaner said. He said the rules were put in place when industry conditions were far different than today’s and a final mandate shouldn’t be retroactive if carriers met dates for selling new equipment.

NEW ORLEANS -- House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R- La.), taking fresh shots at the FCC’s Triennial UNE Review decision at the CTIA Wireless 2003 show HERE Mon., said his concerns about broader state regulatory authority over telecom extended to wireless. He cited efforts by some PUCs to step up regulation of wireless service quality, particularly in Cal., where the PUC is proposing several measures, including requiring carriers to seek permission before implementing new services.

FCC Chmn. Powell detailed in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Hollings (S.C.) the efforts the agency was making to implement E911. The FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative will have its first meeting April 29, Powell said, which will focus on the Hatfield Report analyzing E911 implementation, including public safety answering points (PSAP) funding and issues associated with LEC and wireless carriers’ deployment efforts. The FCC has contacted every state governor asking that an E911 contact person be identified in every state. The Commission also has met with the 911 boards of many states, Powell said. The FCC is coordinating with the Dept. of Transportation’s Wireless E911 Steering Council. The letter is a reply to Hollings’ Feb. 27 letter inquiring about FCC efforts on E911.

MSS systems shouldn’t be treated as terrestrial systems as far as emergency and enhanced 911 (E911) services are concerned because they don’t meet all of the same service criteria, Iridium told the FCC. “The Commission cannot assume that what one [mobile satellite service (MSS)] system can do all can do,” it said. For example, using national call centers with MSS systems could “result in delays and the potential for human error,” Iridium said, and existing systems that didn’t use national centers would be required to make additional investments that changed the systems. Call centers are feasible only for a system without call- forwarding capabilities, the company said, otherwise, routing emergency calls to a number within the state where the call originated was “vastly preferable.” The deployment of E911 would be even more difficult, Iridium said, because existing MSS handsets don’t include GPS technology. The addition of new features would be costly “given the relatively low volume of users and the high investment in the user terminals,” Iridium said.

Legislatures in 34 states have taken up bills this year on driver distraction from cellphone use, ranging from proposed requirements for hands-free devices to stepped-up data collection on accident reports. “The number keeps growing on a daily basis,” said Matthew Sundeen, a policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). “There’s more momentum on the issue.”

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) said he would introduce a bill to prevent states from misallocating E911 funds, which he called “a raw violation of citizens’ trust… This situation is irresponsible, dangerous and cannot be tolerated.”

The Wyo. legislature passed a bill (HB-143) to create an autonomous Consumer Advocate Staff within the Wyo. PSC. Under the bill sent to Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D), the new entity would be charged with representing utility consumer interests before the PSC and would have authority to appeal PSC decisions in court. The consumer advocacy role currently is handled by PSC staffers on an ad hoc basis. The Consumer Advocate Staff will be led by an administrator appointed by the governor. The legislature also passed a 911 tax bill (HB-207) that would raise the cap on county taxes to 75 cents monthly from 50 cents and extend the tax to include wireless phone services at the same rate as is applied to landline services.