Phase I/II = 75%

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) announced today that over 75% of the nation’s population now resides in areas where wireless 911 service includes delivering the caller’s telephone number and location to the PSAP, an eight percent increase in Phase II deployments since December 2005. Even so, one-half of the nation’s 3,135 counties still don’t have either service, NENA said. Association president David Jones said over one-third of PSAPs don’t have access to Phase II location information when a wireless caller dials 911, a situation he called “troubling.” In a press release, NENA noted funding issues for local agencies to implement Phase I/II, and the current proposed funding legislation in the Congress that could provide up to $42 million to local agencies.