Public safety officials fired off angry letter to CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler, saying they agree with his call for better cooperation on Enhanced 911 but were troubled by “tone and substance” of June 24 letters from Wheeler. Wheeler urged better cooperation in letters to Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) and urged public safety answering points (PSAPs) to make binding commitments on rolling out wireless E911 technology, although they remain unregulated by FCC. In part, Wheeler called for uniform implementation plan across more than 6,800 PSAPs and deployment of necessary upgrades. “We disagree with, and are frankly offended by, CTIA’s apparent effort to deflect criticism of carriers by suggesting that there needs to be a ‘binding and enforceable commitment’ by the PSAP community to make wireless E911 a reality,” public safety groups wrote to Wheeler. Letter was signed by APCO Pres. Lyle Gallagher, NENA Pres. Sharon Counterman and National Assn. of State Nine One One Administrators Evelyn Bailey. Letter ticked off incentives that PSAPs have to implement E911 that are centered around saving lives. “We are also deeply troubled by your implication that PSAPs and local governments have misappropriated the 911 fees collected through wireless telephone bills by failing to use those funds for wireless E911 upgrades,” letter said. “You appear to assume that implementing wireless E911 is the only expense that PSAPs incur and the only purpose for which 911 fees should be expended.” Letter notes that PSAPs respond to about 120,000 wireless 911 calls each day, task that is complicated by fact that dozens of calls can be received concerning same emergency. Public safety groups also contend that FCC policy changes haven’t contributed to slow carrier compliance because wireless operators have known about basic E911 requirements since 1996. In addition, groups questioned CTIA assertion that every wireless switch in U.S. is Phase 1 compliant, asking why some carriers haven’t provided Phase 1 service despite valid PSAP requests.

Three of 7 Qwest states participating in collaborative effort to assess Qwest’s compliance with 6 Telecom Act competitive checklist items not directly related to its operation support systems (OSS) reached preliminary assessments of how well Qwest is doing. Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) found Qwest meets all 6 points under review, including No. 3 (access to poles and other infrastructure), No. 7 (access to 911, directory assistance and other operator services), No. 8 (access to white pages directory listings), No. 9 (number administration), No. 10 (access to network signaling and databases) and No. 12 (local dialing parity). IUB conditioned its findings on verification of Qwest’s performance through Qwest Regional Oversight Committee’s OSS performance measures audit results, and Qwest carrying out commitments it made to satisfy concerns raised by individual CLECs. Wyo. PSC found Qwest is in compliance with checklist items 3 and 12. PSC declined at this time to rule on Qwest’s compliance with items 7-10. Agency PSC said Qwest has made efforts to address general CLEC concerns in these areas, but there were certain concerns specific to particular Wyo. CLECs that still needed resolution. PSC said it also wanted to see regional performance measurement audit results before reaching conclusions on remaining items. Mont. PSC found Qwest has fully complied with item 12, local dialing parity, but didn’t reach conclusions about remaining 5 items under review. PSC said it will be addressing other items this summer through comment-and-reply cycles and briefs, without need for industry workshop sessions. Like Iowa and Wyo., Mont. PSC also wants to see performance audit results. Other Qwest states in collaboration on the 6 checklist items are Ida., Utah, N.D. and N.M.

Del. legislature passed bill to administer and fund statewide integration of wireline and wireless E911 emergency calling systems. Measure (HB-283) establishes E911 Service Board charged with developing comprehensive plans for implementing statewide wireless E911 system that meets FCC requirements for automatically pinpointing location of wireless callers, and carrying out integration of wireless and wireline E911 systems. Bill also will replace current wireline 911 surcharges with uniform 60-cent monthly surcharge applied to all wireless and wireline telephone subscribers. Also passed was another 911-related bill (SB-218) that expands the criminal misdemeanor of falsely reporting emergencies to also include repeated non-emergency calls to 911 that are intended to disrupt operation of 911 call centers. The legislature also passed telecom privacy bill (HB-75) that bars employers from monitoring employees’ phone conversations, e-mails or Internet access unless employees receive prior written notice of monitoring policy. Notice is one-time requirement to be done when policy is implemented and when new employees are hired. Violations are civil offense carrying $100 fine.

U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., handed decisive win to FCC Fri., upholding agency decision to remove carrier cost-recovery requirement as precondition to provision of Enhanced 911 service. To turn around slow rollout of E911 services, FCC had stripped away condition that wireless carriers didn’t have to meet E911 Phase 1 and Phase 2 requirements until guaranteed state or local govt. funding was in place. Action was driven by concern that cost-recovery requirement was slowing E911 deployment and that wireless carriers could recover such costs from subscribers because they weren’t rate-regulated. Rural carriers, including U.S. Cellular Corp., challenged FCC decision, based in part on concern that they had less dense subscriber base to pass on such costs to customers. In unanimous ruling written by Judge David Tatel, court concluded eliminating carrier cost recovery requirement “merely imposes the cost of E911 service on its beneficiaries.” Washington attorney Thomas Van Wazer, who argued case for U.S. Cellular, said carrier was “strongly” considering appeal to full 9-member D.C. Circuit.

FCC Wireless Bureau seeks comment on petition from Nextel, Qwest Wireless, Verizon Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless asking it to reconsider its May 7 letter saying wireless carriers were responsible for costs of all hardware and software components for 911 selective routers. Letter said Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) must pay for maintaining and upgrading E911 components including selective router, trunks between 911 selective router and PSAP, Automatic Location Identification database and PSAP customer-premises equipment. Companies said Bureau exceeded its authority because it wrote letter without notice and comment period. Petitioners also said decision ignored wireless carrier comments and said Bureau erroneously assumed E911 network didn’t include carrier’s mobile switching center to 911 selective router trunkline and discriminated against wireless carriers. Comments are due July 30, replies Aug. 14.

There should be more coordination between public safety answering points (PSAPs) and wireless industry, CTIA said in June 24 letters to National Emergency Number Assn. and Assn. of Public- Safety Communications Officials. Letter urged PSAPs to make binding commitments on rollout of wireless E911 technology, even though they aren’t regulated by FCC. “If we are to succeed in delivering enhanced wireless 911 services to the American public, it will require our mutual cooperation,” CTIA Pres. Thomas Wheeler said in letter.

BOSTON -- Despite overall economic downturn in telecom sector, international cross-section of fixed wireless industry at preliminary session of Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) conference here said networks in Latin America and Europe were moving forward, with some changes. Regulators in some cases aren’t immediately seizing licenses if terms aren’t met and govts. are turning more frequently to so-called beauty contests rather than auctions, participants said Sun. Biggest change may be that both regulators and financial backers are expecting realistic business plans with controlled buildout, they said. Among challenges in Europe are that unbundled local loop regulations in some cases can make it easier for competitors to lease network elements from incumbents for DSL, making wireless network buildout less compelling, said Arturas Medeisis, radiocommunications expert with European Radiocommunications Office. “So far, we haven’t seen true success stories yet,” he said of Western European markets.

American Tower issued warning on its expected 2nd quarter net loss per common share, indicating it was likely to hit range of 52-58 cents compared with guidance of 38-45 cents in March. American Tower, which has 14,000 tower sites, also said it planned to take “impairment charge” on its $22 million investment in US Wireless. US Wireless develops technology for Enhanced 911 solutions and American Tower is only preferred stockholder in company. Drop in US Wireless market valuation “appears to be other than temporary,” American Tower said. It also revised revenue outlook in 2nd quarter for Verestar, subsidiary that connects satellite and terrestrial networks. In May, American Tower said it expected 2nd quarter revenue for that unit to hit $68-$73 million range but revised that Thurs. to $56-$58 million. American Tower attributed downward projections to difficulties Verestar had faced in integrating new acquisitions and new hardware problems. Company also cited “a slowing in demand in specific business segments and geographics.” American Tower Chmn. Steve Dodge said he expected Verestar to return to positive cash flow in 3rd quarter. American Tower affirmed revenue projection of $25-$27 million for 2nd quarter.

While wide-ranging wireless privacy legislation may not be necessary or possible to move through Congress this year, panelists at Capitol Hill lunch Tues. cited narrower areas where short-term legislative fixes were needed. Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) Deputy Dir. James Dempsey stressed need for lawmakers to require law enforcement agencies to meet probable cause standards when collecting data from wireless networks and to broaden consumer privacy safeguards on location-specific information beyond telecom carriers. One particularly thorny issue is govt. access to information that isn’t stored on user’s PC but on outside network, increasingly common configuration with software applications and other data, Dempsey told Congressional Internet Caucus lunch on wireless privacy. Govt. access to data stored with 3rd party network is not now subject to Fourth Amendment protections, which require probable cause before reasonable search is conducted, Dempsey said: “That definitely needs to be addressed.”

Members of House Telecom Subcommittee voiced concern Thurs. that wireless carriers and 911 call centers wouldn’t meet Oct. 1 deadline for deploying Phase 2 of Enhanced 911 location capabilities. Ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) warned “industry should not seek -- nor should the Commission grant -- waivers to rules merely for business convenience.” He cited what he called “manana” syndrome among carriers on implementing E911. “But when it comes to 3G, they want spectrum today. They stipulate that it’s a national priority.” Markey said he backed industry’s quest for more 3G spectrum, but said he would “like to see the same alacrity and aggressiveness” on public safety offerings linked to E911. Hearing focused on thorny implementation issues that face wireless industry less than 4 months before Phase 2 deadline, including equipment availability and readiness of public safety answering points.