By Kelly Hill
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed that proceeds from future auctions be dedicated to funding nationwide upgrades to Next-Generation 911 services.
Rosenworcel made the remarks in a recent speech at the National Press Club celebrating the 10th anniversary of the First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet).
The FCC’s statutory authority to auction spectrum expires on Sept. 30 of this year and has to be re-authorized by Congress. As legislators consider that reauthorization, Rosenworcel suggested that they add the caveat that future spectrum auction proceeds be used for NG911 upgrades. She pointed to the federal effort that eventually led to the creation of FirstNet for a wireless network to serve first responders’ needs; similarly, Rosenworcel said, the country needs “a plan to remake our 911 systems for the digital age.
“Historically, our nation’s 911 systems have been updated through fees on bills and a mix of town, county, and state funding measures. But as with first responder communications, it’s time for a nationwide, digital upgrade,” Rosenworcel said, according to the text of her speech. “This is a generational change that needs broader support,” she added, going on to say that “the funds would flow to every state and jurisdiction with 911 call centers to help make next-generation 911 a reality nationwide.”
According to FCC statistics, there are more than 5,300 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) across the US which answered more than 211.1 million 911 calls during the course of 2019.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration submitted a report to Congress in late 2018 with estimates of the cost of NG911 deployment and operations. At the time, the agencies estimated NG911 deployment costs at between US$9.5 billion to US$12.7 billion for deployment, and lifecycle cost estimate — including operational costs and equipment refreshes — in the range of US$13.5 billion to US$16 billion. Those costs would be spread between local, state and federal agencies. NTIA and NHTSA also estimated that the transition to NG911 will take about about a decade — under the rosy circumstances of there being no delays in funding, scheduling or deviations from the recommended implementation path.
A proposed US$10 billion in NG911 funding in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan was pared back to just US$470 million as part of negotiations to trim the total cost of the bill.
NG911 services can support voice, text, data and video communications with 911 call centers. According to the FCC’s most recent report on 911-related investments, 42 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico reported that they were working on Next-Generation 911 (NG911) implementations or planning; a reported 9.2 per cent of 911/E911 fees were spent on NG911 related work, or about US$278 million. Among the areas of NG911 spending: 27 states put money into NG911 planning or consulting services; 20 reported spending money on ESInet construction; 11 said that they were investing in NG911 core services; 17 made hardware or software purchases or upgrades; 16 indicated that they were using funds for GIS, five spent money on training and two said that they had put funding into next-generation security planning.
“If the past taught us that we need to bring public safety along as we transition to next-generation technologies, then we need to make sure we are heeding that lesson in the here and now,” Rosenworcel said in her speech. She also cited 911 outages in recent years as an impetus for moving to NG911 systems that could provide better system resiliency for emergency calling.
