[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 25, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43536-43538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-18181]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 20
[WC Docket No. 05-196; GN Docket No. 11-117; PS Docket No. 07-114; FCC
11-107]
Wireless E911 Phase II Location Accuracy Requirements
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years,
the information collection associated with the Commission's Wireless
E911 Phase II Location Accuracy Requirements, Third Report and Order's
911 service rules. This notice is consistent with the Order, which
stated that the Order would become effective 60 days after publication
in the Federal Register, subject to OMB approval for new information
collection requirements.
DATES: The amendment to 47 CFR 20.18 published at 76 FR 59916,
September 28, 2011, is effective July 25, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Donovan, Policy and Licensing
Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, at (202) 418-
2413, or email: patrick.donovan@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on May 17,
2012, OMB approved, for a period of three years, the information
collection requirements relating to the Wireless
[[Page 43537]]
E911 Phase II Location Accuracy Requirements contained in the
Commission's Order, FCC 11-107, published at 76 FR 59916, September 28,
2011. The OMB Control Number is 3060-1147. The Commission publishes
this notice as an announcement of the effective date of the rules. If
you have any comments on the burden estimates listed below, or how the
Commission can improve the collections and reduce any burdens caused
thereby, please contact Judith B. Herman, Federal Communications
Commission, Room 1-B441, 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554.
Please include the OMB Control Number, 3060-1147, in your
correspondence. The Commission will also accept your comments via email
at PRA@fcc.gov. To request materials in accessible formats for people
with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio
format), send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432
(TTY).
Synopsis
As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received final OMB
approval on May 17, 2012, for the information collection requirements
contained in the modifications to the Commission's rules in 47 CFR Part
20. Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a
collection of information unless it displays a current, valid OMB
Control Number.
No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply
with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number. The OMB
Control Number is 3060-1147.
The foregoing notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents
are as follows:
OMB Control Number: 3060-1147.
OMB Approval Date: May 17, 2012.
OMB Expiration Date: May 31, 2015.
Title: Wireless E911 Phase II Location Accuracy Requirements.
Form Number: N/A.
Respondents: Individuals and households; Business or other for-
profit entities; Not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; and
State, Local, or Tribal Government.
Number of Respondents and Responses: 4,898 respondents; 9,514
responses.
Estimated Time per Response: 5.5867143 hours (average).
Frequency of Response: On-occasion reporting requirements and third
party disclosure.
Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this
information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 154 and 332 of
the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Total Annual Burden: 53,152 hours.
Total Annual Cost: N/A.
Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: An assurance of
confidentiality is not offered because this information collection does
not require the collection of personally identifiable information (PII)
from individuals.
Needs and Uses: The Commission adopted and released a Third Report
and Order, FCC 11-107, PS Docket No. 07-114, which provides that new
Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers, meeting the
definition of covered CMRS providers in Section 20.18 and deploying
networks subsequent to the effective date of the Third Report and Order
that are not an expansion or upgrade of an existing CMRS network, must
meet the handset-based location accuracy standard from the start.
Consequently, the rule requires new CMRS providers launching new stand-
alone networks during the eight-year implementation period for handset-
based CMRS wireless licensees to meet the applicable handset-based
location accuracy standard in effect of the time of deployment.
Therefore, new rule Sec. 20.18(h)(2)(iv) specifies that new CMRS
providers must comply with paragraphs (h)(2)(i)-(iii) of Sec. 20.18,
which are the location accuracy requirements for handset-based
carriers. OMB approved the information collection for those rule
paragraphs, which the Second Report and Order adopted, on March 30,
2011, under OMB Control No. 3060-1147. The Commission announced OMB's
approval and the effective date in 76 FR 23713, April 28, 2011, of the
Federal Register.
As a result, under the new rule section adopted by Third Report and
Order, all new CMRS providers, in delivering emergency calls for
Enhanced 911 service, must satisfy the handset-based location accuracy
standard at either a county-based or Public Safety Answering Point
(PSAP)-based geographic level. Thus, in accordance with the new rule
and under the paragraph provision of Sec. 20.18(h)(2)(i), new CMRS
providers must meet the following initial benchmark for the specified
handset-based location accuracy requirements: ``[t]wo years from
January 18, 2011, 50 meters for 67 percent of calls, and 150 meters for
80 percent of calls, on a per-county or per-PSAP basis.'' Similarly, in
accordance with the new rule and under the paragraph provisions of
Sec. 20.18(h)(2)(i)-(iii), new CMRS providers may exclude up to 15
percent of the counties or PSAP areas they serve due to heavy
forestation that limits handset-based technology accuracy in those
counties or areas.
Therefore, new CMRS providers will be required to file a list of
the specific counties where they are utilizing their respective
exclusions. In its September 2010 Second Report and Order, 75 FR 70604,
November 18, 2010, the Commission found that permitting this exclusion
properly but narrowly accounts for the known technical limitations of
handset-based location accuracy technologies, while ensuring that the
public safety community and the public at large are sufficiently
informed of these limitations.
When they have begun deploying their new networks, the new CMRS
providers must submit initial reports, as the Commission will announce
after OMB approval of this revised information collection, with a list
of the areas that they are permitted to exclude from the handset-based
location accuracy requirements. Accordingly, the Commission will
specify the procedures for electronic filing into PS Docket No. 07-114,
consistent with the current OMB approved information collection for
handset-based carriers, and new CMRS providers must send copies of the
exclusion reports to the National Emergency Number Association, the
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International,
and the National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators.
Further, the rules adopted by the Commission's September 2010
Second Report and Order, 75 FR 70604, November 18, 2010, also require
that, two years after January 18, 2011, wireless carriers provide
confidence and uncertainty data on a per call basis to PSAPs. Because
the new rule adopted by the Third Report and Order considers new CMRS
providers as providers covered under the definition of CMR providers
pursuant to section 20.18 of the Commission's rules, new CMRS providers
will also be subject to the information collection requirement to
provide this confidence and uncertainty data.
Additionally, in view of the amended location accuracy requirements
and the timeframes and benchmarks for handset-based wireless carriers
to comply with them, in its September 2010 Second Report and Order, 75
FR 70604, November 18, 2010, the
[[Page 43538]]
Commission recognized that the waiver process is suitable to address
individual or unique problems, where the Commission can analyze the
particular circumstances and the potential impact to public safety.
Thus, similarly, the supporting statement for this information
collection revision recognizes that new CMRS providers might file
waiver requests and, therefore, be subject to a collection and
reporting requirement.
The Third Report and Order found that requiring all new CMRS
network providers to comply with the Commission's handset-based
location accuracy standard is consistent with the regulatory principle
of ensuring technological neutrality. Providers deploying new CMRS
networks are free to use network-based location techniques, or to
combine network and handset-based techniques, to provide 911 location
information, provided that they meet the accuracy criteria applicable
to handset-based providers. Given the long-term goal of universal
support for one location accuracy standard, the Commission believed
that such a mandate allows appropriate planning and ensures that new
technology will comply with the most stringent location accuracy
standard that applies to existing technology.
Section 20.18(h)(2)(iv) requires that providers of new CMRS
networks that meet the definition of covered CMRS providers under
paragraph (a) of this section must comply with the requirements of
paragraphs (h)(2)(i)-(iii) of this section. For this purpose, a ``new
CMRS network'' is a CMRS network that is newly deployed subsequent to
the effective date of the Third Report and Order in PS Docket No. 07-
114 and that is not an expansion or upgrade of an existing CMRS
network.
The information provided by wireless carriers deploying new CMRS
networks to report the counties or PSAP service areas where the
carriers cannot provide E911 location accuracy at either the county or
the PSAP level will furnish the Commission, affected PSAPs, state and
local emergency agencies, public safety organizations and other
interested stakeholders the supplementary data necessary for public
safety awareness of those areas where it is most difficult to measure
location accuracy during the benchmark periods for handset-based
wireless carriers.
The provision of confidence and uncertainty data to PSAPs by the
new CMRS providers and the SSPs responsible for transporting that data
between them and PSAPs will enhance the PSAPs' ability to efficiently
direct first responders to the correct location of emergencies to
achieve the emergency response goals of the nation in responding
expeditiously to emergency crisis situations and in ensuring homeland
security.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-18181 Filed 7-24-12; 8:45 am]
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