OTTAWA – Canadian wireless companies say they will be ready for the CRTC’s new deadline for the launch of phase two of wireless emergency 911 service.
The Commission said today the deadline for wireless carriers to upgrade their technology – so that people can more easily be found in an emergency – is February 1, 2010. A combination of GPS or radio triangulation will be deployed and the Commission has mandated the technology be precise enough to be able to say where a handset is, within a radius of 10 to 300 metres.
Right now, emergency operators rely on cell phone users to tell them where they are – which can be a problem in some situations.
“The announcement was not a big surprise because we’ve been working on this for some time,” Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association president Bernard Lord told Cartt.ca in an interview. “The industry is in the position to meet the deadline.”
While this is something wireless companies and emergency agencies have been working on for a while (Bell announced back in 2005 it was testing something like it in Toronto), the companies have not publicly committed to action – until recently. Rogers announced through Cartt.ca it will launch phase two of e911 services by the end of May and Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said today “we’re already in discussions with PSAPs (public safety answering points) and other wireless companies about trials.”
The worry is though that while the wireless industry will make itself ready thanks to the CRTC edict, the various PSAPs and levels of government and emergency agencies across the country won’t be. They will need new software and/or hardware to be able to process, display and act on the new information delivered from the wireless carriers.
“There are a lot of groups that have to come together to make this happen,” added Hall. Not to mention the millions of dollars that have to be spent – although no one would commit to even a ballpark cost on this project.
Hall also noted that while major centres might be prepared, able and willing to upgrade quickly, other rural regions may not be so ready. In fact, Telus just this week is helping northern B.C. community Kitimat launch wireline 911 service, for example.
“Our concern is with the PSAPs,” said Lord. “That they will be able to get the new information we send them.”
The technology has its limitations too, since radio triangulation will work fine un urban settings, where there are many towers, out in the country there may be just a single tower – and others are required to triangulate, of course. That will necessitate the use of GPS, which also has limitations if the user is in a well-treed valley, for example.
Nonetheless, the Commission has spoken with its deadline and wireless carriers say they will listen and make it work. Then it will be up to the various levels of government to act as well.
