FCC's E-911 Call Incomplete

In what's seen as a temporary setback for handset manufacturers and a small victory for consumer advocates, the FCC on Feb. 13 denied Ericsson's petition for reconsideration of part of its E-911 Second Report.

Analog handsets sold after Feb. 13 must be able to place a 911 call via the alternate carrier if the subscriber is in an area where his preferred carrier doesn't have coverage. The goal is to improve the chances that the call will reach a public-safety answering point.

Ericsson's petition asked the FCC to waive the requirement that it add that ability to handsets that already have passed the commission's type-certification process. The company also argued that the 9-month compliance deadline wasn't enough to make the modifications.

Meanwhile, the FCC Wireless Telecommunication Bureau approved Nokia's call-completion plan based on the Automatic A/B Roaming-Intelligent Retry method it already approved. The plan includes programing new multimode handsets with the capability to connect emergency calls on all analog and digital networks.

Ericsson submitted a separate call-completion proposal that's similar to Nokia's and would allow the company to meet the call-completion mandate. Ericsson has the FCC's assurance that it will review its proposal quickly, said Barbara Baffer, Ericsson director of regulatory programs.

"The petition for reconsideration was mostly about retrofitting," Baffer said. "But I think that issue is not substantial at this point as companies are encouraged (by the FCC) to come forward with their own call-completion proposals. If the FCC grants these call proposals, then it doesn't matter because we will comply with the rules."

The FCC qualified its approval of the Nokia plan with two conditions that now apply to all handset manufacturers: Calls on new phones must be able to lock onto a network within 17 seconds, and the caller must be notified the 911 call is being processed.

The Wireless Consumers Alliance (WCA) opposed both the Ericsson petition for reconsideration and the Nokia call-completion plan. Although it's pleased that Ericsson's petition was denied, WCA remains concerned whether the Nokia plan eliminates the possibility of a phone "thinking" that it's completed a call when it actually hasn't, a quirk known as "lock-in." Such confusion could cause delays of 120 seconds to 150 seconds, WCA argued. Nokia countered that scanning all digital channels from even a dual-mode phone would take no longer than 1.38 seconds.

The FCC sided with Nokia, but WCA has hired an independent lab to test the phones as soon as the call-completion method is implemented. If the phones fail the testing, the WCA will ask the FCC to revoke its type certification and levy substantial fines, said Carl Hilliard, WCA president.

Hilliard said that it's unclear whether the Nokia plan eliminates the problem of lock-in, which still occurs with automatic A/B roaming because of miscommunication between the handset and site.