RD161 - Annual Report of the Commonwealth of Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board


Executive Summary:
The "Code of Virginia" (§ 56-484.14) requires the Wireless E-911 Services Board (the Board) to report annually to the Governor, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the Virginia State Crime Commission on the following:

(i) the state of enhanced wireless emergency telecommunications services in the Commonwealth,
(ii) the impact of, or need for, legislation affecting enhanced wireless emergency telecommunications services in the Commonwealth,
(iii) the need for changes in the Wireless E-911 funding mechanism as appropriate, and
(iv) the sufficiency of other moneys appropriated for the provision of enhanced wireline emergency telecommunications services only in those local jurisdictions not wireline capable as of July 1, 2000.

In addition to those required elements, this report will also provide a vision for the future of E-911 in the Commonwealth. New consumer technologies and an antiquated existing architecture threaten to undermine the success the enhanced 9-1-1 (E-911) service has enjoyed for over 20 years. Steps must be taken now to ensure that the Commonwealth is in position to address these challenges and is able to maintain the life-saving E-911 system that everyone has come to rely upon.

"The state of enhanced wireless emergency telecommunications services in the Commonwealth"

The Commonwealth has maintained its national leadership in the deployment of wireless E-911 services. Wireless enhanced 9-1-1 (E-911) Phase I service, where the caller's telephone number and the address of the cell site are provided to the public safety answering point (PSAP), is almost complete, with over 99% of all wireless subscribers now being provided the service. The few localities that are not completed are among the most rural Virginia localities and are aggressively working toward deployment. They are also many of the same localities still working to deploy wireline E-911.

The deployment of wireless E-911 Phase II, which provides the PSAP with the caller's actual location by longitude and latitude, is also nearing completion, due to the hard work and dedication of the PSAPs and telecommunications service providers. Phase II service is now available to 93% of wireless telephone service subscribers in the Commonwealth. The wireless service providers and all of the localities involved should be commended for their efforts to protect the public. While Phase II is not 100% accurate, the locations provided are typically within 50 to 300 meters, with some calls actually showing the caller's location within a matter of a few feet. It is not the same as wireline E-911, but it does provide the 9-1-1 call taker with a valuable tool to quickly locate a caller in need of emergency assistance, especially if the caller is unfamiliar with their location

With the deployment of Phase II many of the wireless service providers opted for a handset-based Phase II solution, which uses a global positioning system (GPS) chip in the telephone to locate the caller. As more PSAPs and providers deploy Phase II service, focus has shifted to encouraging subscribers to replace their existing handset with one that has a GPS chip. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that each provider choosing to use a handset solution have 95% of their customer base converted to the GPS-equipped handsets by December 31, 2005.

Though there have been indications that some of the providers may miss this target by a small margin, it does show that the vast majority of consumers have upgraded to the requisite handsets to take advantage of Phase II service.

"The impact of, or need for, legislation affecting enhanced wireless emergency telecommunications services in the Commonwealth"

Because of the changes passed by the General Assembly in Senate Bill 1159 during the 2005 session, the Wireless E-911 Services Board is not recommending any legislative changes for wireless E-911. However, beyond wireless E-911, the Board is recommending several changes (outlined below) to prepare the Commonwealth of Virginia for the future challenges to the overall E-911 system.

"The need for changes in the Wireless E-911 funding mechanism as appropriate"

The Wireless E-911 Fund remains fiscally sound. Projections continue to indicate that the $0.75 surcharge is appropriate to fund statewide deployment of wireless E-911, if the $3.7 million annual funding of the State Police is continued. It should be noted that by the end of FY2004, almost all local PSAPs were taking the wireless E-911 calls directly, thus removing the original justification for providing the funding to the State Police. Continuing the appropriation to the State Police after they are no longer taking the wireless 9-1-1 calls could jeopardize the eligibility of the Commonwealth and all of the localities for federal E-911 grant funding. If this transfer to the State Police is eliminated, the surcharge could be reduced to $0.65.

"The sufficiency of other moneys appropriated for the provision of enhanced wireline emergency telecommunications services"

The FY2002-2004 biennial budget includes a $9.8 million appropriation from the Wireless E-911 Fund to assist the 37 localities that did not have E-911 as of July 1, 2000 with the deployment of wireline E-911. This funding was allocated to each of the localities, with all but ten having completed the deployment process. Eight of the final ten are projected to finish by December 2005 with the last two completing before the end of the fiscal year. At this time, no additional funding is required; however, as discussed in the vision section below, a strategy needs to be developed to assist many of these same localities with technology refreshment as the systems they are now deploying require replacement. The same localities that were not able to locally fund the initial investment for E-911 will likely be unable to fund the replacement of the equipment at the end of its life cycle.

"Future Vision of E-911 in the Commonwealth"

Though not a required component of the Board's annual report, since the Wireless E-911 Service Board is the only state level entity reporting to the Governor and General Assembly on E-911issues, it is important to highlight some of the current challenges and shortcomings of the E-911system. To address these issues, several changes are recommended that will better position the Commonwealth for the future. Fortunately, experience with the wireless E-911 program offers a model for the overall program reorganization. The success of wireless E-911 deployment can and should be leveraged to benefit current and future technologies accessing E-911.

Rather than dealing with each new technology independently as was done with wireless, fundamental changes to the overall E-911 program will be required. The existing E-911 network needs to be replaced with a secure, managed IP-based network. This will permit data and voice to be processed with equal ease. The current network is only efficient at processing voice as it is based on 1970's and 1980's technology. One of the advantages of an IP-based network is that other public safety applications will be able to use this infrastructure as well. E-911 would become an application on the network, but not the only application. This next generation E-911 application must be able to support 9-1-1 call (or equivalent) from any telecommunications device the consumer might reasonably expect to use to report an emergency.

Again, leveraging the success of the wireless E-911 program, the Wireless E-911 Services Board should be utilized to support and manage the deployment of these new services to ensure that all Virginians have the same access to this life-saving service. Also in support of this goal, the Board should develop best practices to encourage interoperability between PSAPs and a consistent level of service across the Commonwealth.

Of course, none of this will be possible without sufficient funding and resources. As a result, sufficient general funds must be appropriated to the Board to ensure a rapid transition to this desperately needed upgrade of the network. However, an equally pressing threat to the overall E-911 system is the eroding revenues received locally from wireline E-911 surcharge. Some localities have reported as much as a 15% reduction in local E-911 revenue. As consumers move to other telecommunications technologies like wireless and VoIP, they stop paying the local wireline surcharge and either pay the statewide $0.75 surcharge or no surcharge at all. Since the wireless funding is much more restrictive in its use, not to mention that a $0.75 surcharge cannot logically offset the loss of a surcharge that is as high as $3.00, the current funding process for wireless needs to be changed.

Since the initial nonrecurring capital costs of the deployment of wireless E-911 are no longer an issue, the Board is recommending a restructuring of the funding program to split the Wireless Fund into two equal sub- funds. The first would be to provide PSAP funding and would be based on the percentage of wireless E-911 funding received by each PSAP during FY2006. The other sub-fund would be distributed by the Board based on grant requests received each fiscal year. The grant funding would be available to both PSAPs and wireless service providers based on criteria established by the Board. Any funding uncommitted by the Board at the end of each fiscal year would also be distributed to the PSAPs based on the same percentage used in the initial distribution.

The following sections of the report provide a more detailed analysis of the current state of E-911 in the Commonwealth exploring both wireless and wireline implementations.