FCC Approves 911 Vertical Location Mandate Over Rosenworcel Opposition

The FCC approved over a dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel rules requiring carriers to provide height above ellipsoid (HAE) data from wireless calls to 911, within 3 meters accuracy for 80 percent of calls, starting in the largest markets in April 2021. APCO and some others in public safety are concerned the mandate will mean an FCC retreat from dispatchable location. Such more specific location is a concept endorsed by commissioners 5-0 in January 2015 under former Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1501290066).

With APCO, New York City and others raising concerns (see 1911200028), FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called in Harold Schaitberger, International Association of Fire Fighters general president, to make the case for the rules. “We cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good,” the former firefighter said. “This proposal is good.”

There’s no disagreement on the need for the rules among first responders, just from 911 dispatchers, Schaitberger told us. “The public safety community that actually responds is in lockstep.” Schaitberger said firefighters still want dispatchable location and want the standard tightened.

Rosenworcel voted against the rule but for an accompanying NPRM. “By any measure, it falls short of what is actionable,” she said: “When police or firefighters show up in an emergency, the last thing they should have to do is take out a measuring tape. They need a standard that tells them precisely where you are.” Rosenworcel noted the many parties that opposed the proposal.

The 6,000 U.S. public safety answering points already face costs of more than $12 billion to move to next-generation 911, Rosenworcel said. “No one knows where this funding is going to come from. And yet today, we are tacking on a brand new obligation for 911 centers to take raw height above ellipsoid data and hope and pray they will be able to translate it into something actionable."

The future of dispatchable location is a "significant fear," Rosenworcel told reporters. "If you comb through the text of our decision you will have every reason to suspect that we are done and we are not, in fact, going to make dispatchable and truly actionable data available for our nation’s 911 operators and first responders.”

Asked about the FCC commitment on dispatchable location, Pai cited the support from many public safety groups. "This is a meaningful step forward today in terms of promoting public safety and saving lives," he said. "We want to make sure that all of us are working together to establish achievable and meaningful improvements in our public safety system."

Commissioner Brendan Carr said the order's the best the FCC can do now and HAE is the right metric. “Rushing into a burning building, surrounded by smoke, it’s easy for a first responder to become disoriented and lose track of exactly what floor she’s on,” Carr said: “Telling her to go to floor nine is less actionable in those cases than telling her that the 911 call originated 20 meters above her current location.”

“This is a step in the right direction, but it is not the final one,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “Floor-level accuracy is needed to ensure they get to the right place every time,” he said: “I am pleased that the NPRM seeks comment on transitioning to a more-stringent metric. This is literally a life-or-death issue, and we need to move fast.”

FCC Meeting Notebook

Both Democrats voted “concur” on an NPRM seeking comment on relaxing rules restricting same-market, commonly owned radio stations from duplicating content (see 1911200056). “I can think of precious few situations where such an arrangement would be the best use of our spectrum,” said Starks. “This policy was designed to support radio localism, competition and diversity,” said Rosenworcel. “Take it away and the quantity of local programming in any local market could easily decline.” Despite those misgivings, both commissioners said they support gathering more information on the issue, and said questions they requested were added to the final version. The FCC shouldn't micromanage the activity of broadcasters, said Carr. The radio industry has greatly changed since the rule was created in 1992, Pai said. “Which brings us to ask: Is this rule still necessary? And if so, should it be modified?” It's docket 19-310.

FCC members unanimously approved an NPRM Friday seeking comment on allowing AM broadcasters to voluntarily transition to all-digital AM. “If we’re going to preserve this critical service, we need to bring AM radio into the 21st century," said Pai. The NPRM seeks comment on operating parameters for such stations, interference concerns and industry standards, said a Media Bureau release. NAB lauded the decision. “Many AM radio broadcasters are exploring all-digital radio’s potential for delivering markedly improved reliability and audio quality for listeners,” a spokesperson said. O'Rielly expressed concern about the item but looks forward to what the record will show. He has “reservations” about adopting specific technical standards. “It remains to be seen whether digital AM signals will ever catch on with manufacturers, and more importantly, listeners, or serve as a significant factor in the band’s revitalization,” he said. The docket's 19-11.

The agency will open a rulemaking in docket 19-309 on eliminating bad actors from federally funded FCC programs, after a unanimous vote. Under current rules, the FCC can bar participants from the USF only if they've been convicted of a crime or found civilly liable for certain program-related conduct. Pai said such remedies "come too late in the administrative process to be an effective remedy" against some bad actors, and don't address such problems in programs including the Telecommunications Relay Services Fund or the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program. It proposes to work more closely with other government agencies, including OMB. "Adoption of OMB guidelines would enable the commission to engage in suspension or debarment procedures more expeditiously than under our current rules," O'Rielly said. He wants quick-response procedures for those who challenge a possible suspension or debarment, lest the agency "create regulatory quicksand."

Commissioners also voted unanimously to adopt new rules in docket 13-24 to the update the support mechanism for IP captioned telephone service to include interstate revenues in the funding (see 1911150011).