FCC Updates Z-Axis Rules Over Rosenworcel Dissent, Stakeholder Worries

The FCC approved updated rules for finding the vertical location of wireless callers to 911 over partial dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and concerns by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The concerns were expected, with the FCC getting contradictory advice about the order (see 2007100045), which updates rules commissioners approved in November (see 1911220034). The first mandates kick in next April.

The order affirms the 2021 and 2023 z-axis requirements and rejects a proposal to weaken them, said a news release. The FCC adds a requirement that nationwide wireless providers deploy z-axis technology nationally by April 2025, while giving non-nationwide wireless providers an extra year to do so within their service areas.

The rules go wrong in not giving first responders the information they really need, Rosenworcel said. “There’s no floor number in a building,” she said: “There’s no measurement from street level. There is just a series of numbers that offer remarkably little to a 911 operator who has just seconds to organize public safety response.” Rosenworcel noted the recent complaint by New York City: “If we can’t get this right for New York, one of the cities where the case for vertical location is the clearest, it calls into question what we are doing in the first place.”

The rules will also require consumers to update the software on their device or respond to a carrier notice, Rosenworcel said. “Our tradition is to make it simple and democratic” to reach 911, she said. “But now full location information only accompanies your call if you opt-in to this new system or have the right phone.”

The handset based solution approved may not be ready in time for the earliest deadlines, and handset-based solutions are less accurate than network solutions, O’Rielly said. Carriers and equipment makers are expressing concerns, he said: “We cannot just dismiss the merits of their arguments by attacking their motives or hiding behind commission procedure. These are the very companies that we are going to rely on to make this technology work, and they seem to have serious doubts.”

“The FCC is missing an opportunity to use smartphone solutions to provide vertical location data for millions of 9-1-1 callers nationwide by April 2021,” CTIA said.

APCO, New York City and others objected. Chairman Ajit Pai noted the support of the National Emergency Number Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Firefighters and others. “The record reflected in our view that that time frame was reasonable,” Pai said of the industry concerns.

Commissioner Brendan Carr said industry is making progress. “This is not an achievement of government mandates but of technologists and entrepreneurs focused on solving the problem,” he said. Two companies have demonstrated “how using air pressure can accurately project the height of a call’s origin,” he said: “Google is making progress with a different approach, and Apple will demonstrate its solution in the test bed this fall.”

“Emergency responders may need to quickly find a caller who cannot provide their precise location to dispatchers,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks: “Today’s decision is an important step toward ensuring that first responders will have z-axis information.”