Just last week, I had the honor of meeting some of our nation’s public safety heroes at the NG911 Institute’s annual gathering on Capitol Hill. I thanked the emergency responders in the room for all they do to serve their communities and save lives. I also pledged that public safety and national security will be top priorities for us at the FCC and committed to swift action on these fronts.
If you were paying close attention to my remarks, I even offered a little preview of this month’s agenda. If you were not paying close attention to those remarks, I don’t blame you, but now you have to read on to find out what we’re voting on. Today, we are rolling out an agenda for the Commission’s March open meeting that reflects and fulfills our commitment to public safety and national security.
We will lead off the meeting with an inquiry that explores alternatives to GPS. We rely on GPS for so many facets of modern life—from emergency response to military operations to simple driving directions. While GPS may be indispensable, it is not infallible. Continuing to rely so heavily on one system leaves us exposed. Disruptions to GPS have the potential to undermine the nation’s economic and national security. And the risks to our current system are only increasing. That is why leaders from President Trump to Chairman Cruz and Senator Markey have all advocated for the government to take action to ensure we have a resilient system in place. To do that, we need to develop redundant technologies. That is why we will vote on an inquiry to explore other Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems that can be complements or alternatives to GPS. Beyond answering technical questions, we hope this effort will engage stakeholders across government and industry to encourage the development of new PNT technologies and solutions. As a nation, it is important that we catch up to other countries that are looking at robust alternatives of their own.
Like GPS, it’s hard to imagine life without 911. Also like GPS, the stakes couldn’t be higher if this technology were to fail. In three weeks, the Commission will consider two items to improve the effectiveness and reliability of 911.
Our public safety systems are in the midst of a multi-year process to transition to Next Generation 911. Internet-based technologies not only enhance the capabilities of NG911 compared to legacy 911, they also enhance 911 resilience. Unfortunately, periodic “sunny day” outages of 911 systems have exposed possible gaps in the coverage of our existing 911 reliability rules. To reduce the risk of outages, we will consider a proposal to update our existing rules to ensure the resiliency, reliability, interoperability, and accessibility of NG911. In particular, we want to make sure third parties that provide services like call routing are covered by our reliability rules. More broadly, this proposal would improve transparency and accountability during the 911 transition.
When talking about the effectiveness of 911, few things are more important than accurate and actionable location information. If first responders know exactly where to go, that saves valuable time, and, in an emergency situation, saving response time can mean saving lives. Too often, the vertical location (Z-axis) information that 911 call centers receive is not easily usable, and first responders end up on the wrong floor. In addition, phone providers rarely deliver dispatchable location information like a street address or the caller’s apartment or room number, despite the FCC’s rules saying that information should be provided when technically feasible. To get more actionable information in the hands of emergency responders, the Commission will consider a proposal to strengthen our 911 location accuracy rules. Specifically, we propose strengthening our vertical location accuracy requirements, and we are seeking comment on how to get phone providers to deliver dispatchable location information with wireless 911 calls.
Public safety and national security will be top priorities for me over the next few years. With these actions, we’re getting off to a fast start, and I intend to steadily build on this progress in the days ahead.
But wait, there’s more. Finally, we will consider an adjudicatory item from the Media Bureau. While I can’t preview the details of an item like this one in advance, I am sure that inquiring minds will want to know. Does it fit with the public safety theme? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no. But that’s just how life and open meetings go sometimes. This vote will be part of our broader effort to clean house and clear up some backlog. So we will be closing out with a good government win.