[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 25, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43536-43538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing 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: [email protected].

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 [email protected]. To request materials in accessible formats for people 
with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio 
format), send an email to [email protected] 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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