By Tracy Oldemeyer, Director, Ireland Stapleton Pryor and Pascoe, PC
Decades ago, Congress charged the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) with responsibility for ensuring and maintaining the reliability and resiliency of the nation’s communications networks. In 1999, Congress further directed the FCC to make 9-1-1 the universal emergency number. When a person calls 9-1-1 (“the end user”), the public’s expectation is that help will arrive at the right place as soon as possible. Federal regulations have often been prompted by publicity surrounding preventable delays in emergency response that resulted in tragedy. As examples, the FCC now requires that:
- multi-line telephone systems, which are typically found in businesses, hospitals, campuses, and hotels, be pre-configured to allow the end user to directly dial 911 without having to dial any prefix or access code, such as the number 9;
- a 911 call be conveyed with a dispatchable location, which is the validated street address of the end user, plus additional information such as suite, apartment, or similar information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party; and
- telecommunications carriers promptly report to regulators outages in a network that prevent 911 calls from being answered at the dispatch center, also known as a public safety answering point or “PSAP.”
In a recent rulemaking requiring the implementation of location-based routing for wireless calls, the FCC emphasized that 911 calls must be routed to the PSAP responsible for handling the 911 call based on the caller’s location. Misroutes create confusion at the PSAP receiving the misrouted call, and they result in delay because the 911 call needs to be transferred to the appropriate PSAP. Every second matters in the dispatch of an emergency response. The FCC cited anecdotal evidence that a typical misroute introduces a delay of about a minute.
The FCC requires telecommunications carriers, also known as originating service providers or “OSPs,” to deliver 911 calls from the end user to points of interconnection or “POIs” that have been designated by state and local 911 Authorities. From a POI, the 911 call should be routed and transported to the PSAP responsible for dispatching first responders based on the caller’s location. OSPs are responsible for the cost of delivering the 911 call to the POIs. An OSP’s transport network can consist of facilities they own, lease, or access through interconnection agreements with other carriers. The transport network must consider the appropriate flow of calls, such as when and how a call is identified as a 911 call, which can vary based on whether the call originates on a landline, a wireless device, a voice over internet (VoIP) connection, or satellite phone. OSPs may also consider the anticipated amount of traffic on the network, as well as the age and type of infrastructure (legacy copper wire versus fiber).
OSPs also plan for advancements in technology and changes in federal and state laws. 911 Authorities are replacing legacy 911 technology with Internet Protocol (IP)-based infrastructure to support new capabilities, including text to 911, video, and data. The FCC wants to expedite the nationwide transition to Next Generation 911 services (NG 911). Recent FCC regulations will require OSPs: (1) to deliver 911 traffic in IP-based Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”) format to POIs (Phase 1), and (2) deliver 911 traffic to POIs in an IP-based SIP format that supports routing, caller location, and transmission of emergency information in accordance with NG911 commonly accepted standards (Phase 2). These changes are significant and exciting.
States may also regulate 9-1-1. Generally speaking, in light of preemption, a state cannot lessen requirements that the federal government has placed on telecommunications carriers. Colorado regulates only a small portion of 911 call flow known as basic emergency service or BES, which it defines as the “aggregation and transportation of a 911 call directly to a point of interconnection with a governing body or PSAP.”