Study Critical of Canada’s Wireless 911 Advances

An independent consultant has found that Canada is “late to the game” in establishing E911 location features for cellular callers, and that telecom regulators have been slow to set firm deadlines for implementation. IDC Canada says that over one-half of the nation’s 911 calls are now made by the nation’s 21 million wireless subscribers. They implied that the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), responsible for telecom regulation, has not taken a leadership role in establishing what is called “Phase II” in the United States. Instead, the CRTC has established only general regulations, and with no firm deadline dates. IDC provided a comparison of wireless E911 in other countries, and concluded, “”Canada is significantly lagging behind the U.S. as well as Europe in adopting wireless emergency service technology.” Read a press release about the report, and then download (pdf) the full IDC report here.