Emergency Communications

As previously announced, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) will host a public workshop on September 11, 2017 to discuss best practices for improving situational awareness during 911 outages. By this Public Notice, the Bureau announces the agenda and panelists for the workshop.

The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have established September 27, 2017 as the date for the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Like 2016’s test, all EAS participants must file Form 1 a month before the test. The Form 1 has been modified, however, requiring information that was not requested previously. In addition, the FCC’s Emergency Test Reporting System (ETRS) has been revamped so that prior log in codes do not work and the system’s functionality is now unfamiliar to prior users. As a result, while the Form 1 is technically due next Monday, August 28th, anyone who has not yet started the filing process should begin immediately and aim to finish the process this week.

AT&T’s CFO John Stephens said that FirstNet’s pre-emption requirements for public safety users present “a challenge with the net neutrality process because you are giving prioritized service to police, firefighters.” “But quite frankly I think everyone would agree that that’s probably a good thing,” explained Stephens. "It’s just one of the uniquenesses of some of the other arguments that we have to deal with.”

When questioned about the topic further, Stephens said that net neutrality proponents didn’t really take FirstNet’s public-safety pre-emption requirements into account when drafting net neutrality guidelines. “We have the ability today to give [FirstNet public-safety users] preferential treatment. What we’ll have by the end of the year is what we call ‘relentless pre-emption,’ such that if there’s capacity for 10 calls and 10 calls are being used, and a firefighter gets on, one of the 10 people gets booted off and the firefighter gets in,” he said. “Quite frankly, I don’t think they thought about it [when crafting net neutrality guidelines]. The FirstNet process has been around since 9/11. It came out of the 9/11 events, and so that had been out there for a long time, and so I don’t even think it was even considered.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released the following statement regarding unanimous U.S. Senate passage of Kari’s Law Act of 2017: “I am pleased that the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Kari’s Law. This legislation will help ensure that every call to 911 directly connects those in need with those who can help. I also commend Hank Hunt, Kari's father, for channeling his pain into a passion for change. Thanks to his efforts and those of many others, Americans will one day be able to call 911 and reach first responders without having to dial an access code. I hope that this critical public safety measure will soon become law.”

On August 3, the passed the following technology and telecommunications bills:

1. S. 19, Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless Act (MOBILE NOW Act), Legislation to increase spectrum availability for next-generation gigabit wireless services and foster broadband deployment. Sponsors: Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Bill Nelson (D-FL)
2. S. 96, Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017, Legislation to require the FCC to establish quality and reliability standards for rural phone networks. Sponsors: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Thune (R-SD), Jon Tester (D-MT)
3. S. 123, Kari’s Law Act of 2017, Legislation initiated after the murder of Kari Hunt in a hotel in Marshall, Texas, when Hunt’s daughter tried to call 911 but was unsuccessful due to a required “9” prefix on the hotel phone. This legislation bans the requirement of a prefix when dialing 911 for assistance. Sponsors: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-SD), Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
4. S. 134, Spoofing Prevention Act of 2017, Legislation to stop the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, including such calls and text messages originating overseas. Sponsors: Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roy Blunt (R-MO)
5. S. 174, Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2017, Legislation to require the FCC to condense duplicative reports on competition in the telecommunications market into one comprehensive report released every two years. Sponsors: Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
6. S. 88, Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things Act (DIGIT Act), Legislation to bring together private sector and government entities to assess the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT) and study the readiness of government to support the IoT. Sponsors: Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)

Many police officers, firefighters and paramedics carry their own smartphones to do the things their department-issued equipment can’t. But now, 16 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, exposed the inability of American first responders to talk to each other, a nationwide cellular network called “FirstNet” is launching to give public safety employees the ability to send data, video and text to each other.

When a crisis hits and cell towers are overwhelmed, calls from first responders will preempt calls made by the public. FirstNet is expected to be operational by March. Congress established the First Responder Network Authority after reports that firefighters and police officers were unable to communicate at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the idea of placing all public safety agencies on one interoperable broadband network took off after AT&T was awarded wireless spectrum that will provide the bandwidth for the project and then committed to spending $40 billion to build new facilities and provide security for it. Each state, territory and the District of Columbia must opt in to the project individually so that their public service agencies can obtain the phones or sim cards and wireless plans needed to access FirstNet.

On Monday, September 11th, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will host a public workshop to discuss best practices for improving situational awareness during 911 outages. Topics addressed in the workshop will include how to strengthen Public Safety Answering Point 911 service outage notifications and how to best communicate with consumers about alternative methods of accessing emergency services.

When the Commerce Department earlier in 2017 awarded the contract to build the FirstNet nationwide mobile broadband public safety network to AT&T, it wasn’t a done deal for all 50 states. Individual states still must opt in (which at least five already have done) or opt out of AT&T’s plan for the state. And as a Verizon FirstNet letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission July 24 illustrates, there are a lot of questions about what opting out means.

As Verizon notes in the letter, states opting out are permitted to use a different network operator to build and operate the public safety network within the state, as long as the network is interoperable with FirstNet. But there are some major gray areas, according to Verizon, including whether or not an individual state can use their selected carrier’s “network core” to support the state’s public safety network. The “network core” includes “data centers and systems used to interconnect users to each other and to other public networks,” Verizon said.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) was created to equip America’s first responders with state-of-the-art communications tools, enabled by the first nationwide interoperable, wireless broadband network. But FirstNet is doing much more than building a communications network: the organization is also working to drive continuous innovation over the Network – including the development of an open, integrated applications ecosystem tailored for public safety users.

Through FirstNet’s outreach to public safety, first responders have told them about the advantages of data communications in the field and their growing use of mobile broadband tools and technologies to help save lives. They have heard from responders at station visits, city and state meetings, training opportunities and ride-alongs about the promise of using applications over the FirstNet Network. FirstNet is taking first responders’ feedback and using their ideas to cultivate an open, integrated applications ecosystem on the FirstNet Network, so that public safety personnel will have access to more targeted applications and more timely data than ever before possible.

The US Government Accountability Office was asked to review FirstNet’s progress and efforts to ensure the network is reliable, secure, and interoperable. GAO (1) examined FirstNet’s efforts to establish the network; (2) obtained stakeholder views on network reliability, security, and interoperability challenges FirstNet faces and its efforts to address them; and (3) assessed FirstNet’s plans to oversee its network contractor. GAO reviewed FirstNet documentation, key contract oversight practices identified in federal regulations and other sources, tribal communication practices identified by federal agencies, and assessed FirstNet’s efforts and plans against these practices. GAO also interviewed FirstNet officials and a nongeneralizable selection of publicsafety, tribal, and other stakeholders selected to obtain a variety of viewpoints. GAO recommends that FirstNet fully explore tribal stakeholders’ concerns and assess its long-term staffing needs. FirstNet agreed with GAO’s recommendations.