The FCC has released a notice of proposed rulemaking that proposes to eliminate after six months the requirement that wireless carriers forward 911 calls from non-service-initialized (NSI) handsets to public safety answering points (PSAPs).  In 2013, the National Emergency Number Association changed its position on whether the FCC should eliminate the requirement. The group asked the agency to phase it out as carriers transition to all-Internet protocol architectures.

NENA said there was broad support for elimination of the rule and said that “PSAPs face an ever-growing onslaught of non-emergency calls to 9-1-1 from NSI devices.”  NENA also cited a “consensus view that the promotion of NSI devices does more harm than good.” The group also contended that “most charities and domestic violence advocates [have] abandoned the practice of distributing NSI devices.”

In response to a public notice, public safety and commercial entities generally favored eliminating the requirement, although the view was not universal.

NENA and other public safety groups had filed a petition for a notice of inquiry in 2008 to address the problem of 911 calls made from NSI phones, and the Commission adopted an NOI later that year.

“In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), we seek comment on whether the obligation to transmit 911 calls from NSI devices continues to serve an important public safety objective,” the FCC said in the item, which was released late yesterday. “A primary rationale for the initial adoption of the Commission’s rule in the late 1990s was to expedite wireless calls to 911 that would otherwise have been delayed due to lengthy call validation processes for unidentified callers that were commonly used at the time. In the nearly two decades since the rule was adopted, however, the call validation methods of concern to the Commission are no longer in use.

“Moreover, the availability of low-cost options for wireless services has increased. These trends suggest that the NSI component of the requirement is no longer necessary to ensure that wireless callers have continued access to emergency services,” the NPRM added. “Further, the inability to identify the caller creates considerable difficulty for PSAPs when a caller uses an NSI device to place fraudulent calls. Public safety representatives have indicated that NSI devices are frequently used to make such calls, causing a significant waste of limited public safety resources. For these reasons, we propose to sunset the NSI component of the rule after a six-month transition period that will allow for public outreach and education. We also seek comment on alternative approaches to addressing the issue of fraudulent calls from NSI devices.”

The FCC seeks updated data on how common it is for PSAPs to receive fraudulent calls from NSI phones and the costs to public safety. It also seeks views on the extent to which the public, including poorer people and the elderly, rely on NSI phones to reach 911. It also asks for views on technological and operational issues related to eliminating the rule.

The FCC also said that it recognizes “that sunsetting the NSI rule is not the only means of reducing the incidence of fraudulent calls to 911 from such devices. In the Notice of Inquiry, the Commission examined the possibility of blocking NSI devices used to make fraudulent 911 calls while retaining the NSI rule itself, and sought comment on suggestions for making blocking a more viable option for CMRS providers, as well as on other possible solutions. We seek comment on whether call-blocking is a viable alternative to sunsetting the NSI rule.

“While Commission rules generally require CMRS providers to forward all 911 calls to PSAPs, including calls from NSI devices, they do not prohibit CMRS providers from blocking fraudulent 911 calls ‘pursuant to applicable state and local law enforcement procedures.’ Nevertheless, the Petition asserted that CMRS providers refuse to honor PSAP blocking requests due to ‘technical and legal concerns,’” the FCC noted. “In response to the Notice of Inquiry, many commenters – both CMRS provider and public safety – cited technical and legal problems that continue to make blocking calls difficult. We seek comment on these views.”

The FCC also noted that in the NOI, it “requested comment on two other alternative approaches to address the problem of fraudulent 911 calls from NSI devices: (1) implementing call-back capabilities for NSI devices, and (2) requiring CMRS provider-sponsored device donation programs to provide service-initialized devices. We seek further comment on the relative costs and benefits of these proposals as alternatives to sunsetting the NSI rule.”

Comments are due 30 days after “Federal Register” publication and replies are due 30 days after that in PS docket 08-51. – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily