The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today granted the Alaska Wireless Network LLC (AWN) a one-year waiver of the Dec. 31, 2014, deadline to be able to send texts to public safety answering points. In the order in PS dockets 11-153 and 10-255, the bureau noted that AWN cited technical limitations it faced “associated with routing 911 text messages on its LTE networks operating in tandem with its GSM/UMTS networks.” It has told the FCC that it has a contract with a vendor that will allow it to send texts by Dec. 31 of this year, the bureau said.

“As a condition of the waiver, we require AWN to submit a final certification no later than December 31, 2015 that it is text-capable as required by our rules,” the bureau said. “Finally, we note that AWN filed this waiver request on the day of the deadline it sought to waive, and therefore we remind AWN and other licensees that requests for waivers of the Commission’s rules must be filed in a timely manner. In particular, we strongly encourage parties seeking waiver relief from Commission deadlines to file their requests as far in advance of the applicable deadline as possible.”

Courtesy TRDaily