FCC grants VoiceStream waiver of priority access service rules

The FCC today granted VoiceStream’s petition to waive an element of the commission’s priority access service (PAS) rules, allowing the carrier to provide wireless emergency services to the National Communications System (NCS).

Specifically, the memorandum opinion and order temporarily waives a provision of the rules that calls for carriers to provide authorized users of wireless emergency services the ability to activate such features on a per-call basis by dialing a feature code. The waiver is in effect until VoiceStream or the NCS notifies the FCC that the per-call invocation feature can be commercially deployed on a GSM-based network, the expiration of the contract between VoiceStream and NCS (or its designated agents), or December 31, 2002, whichever comes first.

The NCS administers and manages the assets of 23 federal organizations in serving the national security and emergency preparedness (NSEP) needs of federal, state and local governments. The FCC issued PAS rules in October 2000 that govern how wireless providers such as VoiceStream provide voluntary PAS services to NSEP personnel.

The rules dictate that providers offering PAS do so under uniform operating protocols that determine the number of priority levels and the priority level for specific NSEP users. Under Section 64.402 of the rules, PAS lets NSEP users gain access in emergencies to the next available wireless channel without pre-empting calls already in progress.

The FCC grants waivers in instances where the application of the rules would be inequitable, unduly burdensome or contrary to the public interest.

While supporting the temporary waiver because it would allow the “NCS and VoiceStream to put a working PAS in place while a fully compliant system is constructed,” FCC Commissioner Michael Copps stressed the importance of knowing whether a carrier’s PAS would reduce a user’s ability to complete calls in an emergency.

“The commission therefore should have required VoiceStream to disclose to its customers the effect the PAS will have on the ability of those Americans not on a PAS list to make calls during an emergency. This waiver does not do so,” Copps said in a statement.

While PAS is “critical in helping to meet the country’s communications needs related to national security and emergency preparedness,” FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin said PAS also is crucial in terms of the current spectrum shortage.

“PAS demonstrates how technological advances are allowing increasingly efficient use of spectrum,” Martin said in a statement. “During crisis situations, a higher valued use of the spectrum prevails, without having to dedicate those frequencies for emergency services all of the time.”