Feeling the pressure from cellular subscribers and Congress, the nation’s cellular carriers have voluntarily agreed to provide a “best-efforts” text-to-911 service to any comm center that requests it starting no later than May 2014. The new service is intended to provide emergency reporting via SMS messages until national NG911 service can be provided, perhaps in the next 10 years. In an announcement late Thursday, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T joined the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) to announce the commitment. The service will benefit those who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, the groups said, without mentioning other potential users of the service. Significantly, the carriers said they will implement the service “independent of their ability to recover these associated costs from state or local governments.” Much of the spotlight for implementing text-to-911 has focused on creating parity for smartphone users who are already used to texting, not on the deaf or speech-impaired community. Proponents have also noted the service could be used by crime victims who cannot speak because of their close proximity to suspects. In the annoucement, the carriers said that before deployment, they will implement a “bounce-back” message to warn customers text-to-911 service is unavailable in their area. They are not required to implement the service for customers roaming outside their home service area. The service will only be provided to comm centers that are technically ready to accept text messages, have been authorized by local or state 911 governing groups, and that make a formal request of the carriers. In a separate announcement, Federal Communications Commission chair Julius Genachowski said the the commission will take steps next week to insure text-to-911 is rolled out quickly. “This is good progress,” he said, “but our work is not done.” Download (pdf) the joint carrier announcement and Genachowski’s remarks here.
The tech Web site Gizmodo ran a story about the announcement, prompting several revealing comments, including, “People are going to be sending them so much porn.”
APCO issued a press release on the action:
APCO Joins in Voluntary Industry Agreement to Offer Text to 9-1-1 ServicesAgreement Will Expedite Availability of Text to 9-1-1 to ConsumersDaytona Beach, FL – The nation’s four largest wireless carriers, joined by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), announced yesterday an agreement on a voluntary commitment to offer text-to-9-1-1 services. APCO International helped to ensure that the agreement will best meet the needs of the public safety community and other stakeholders. The four participating wireless service providers are AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon. Shortly after being filed, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski stated that this agreement will “accelerate progress” on text-to-9-1-1, following up on his earlier remarks before APCO in 2011 where he stressed the importance that Next Generation 9-1-1 services, including text-to-9-1-1, “be deployed to all Americans as quickly as possible.”
This agreement paves the way for a national approach to enabling the public to reach 9-1-1 via text messages, which can be especially important for persons with disabilities and for any situations where a voice call cannot be made. “With this agreement, text-to-9-1-1 capability will be rolled out in an expeditious manner, consistent with Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) readiness and in accordance with industry standards,” said APCO President Terry Hall. He continued, “We also support the industry’s commitment to provide a bounce-back message where text-to-9-1-1 is unavailable.” As part of the agreement, the carriers pledge to work cooperatively with APCO, NENA and the FCC to educate the public on the availability and limitations of text-to-9-1-1, as well as to train PSAPs on text-to-9-1-1. The general public should still continue to make a voice call to 9-1-1 whenever possible.
Key points of the agreement include the following:
- Applies only to the text messaging services (referred to as “Short Messaging Service” or “SMS” texting) provided directly by the four national carriers. Text messaging applications provided by third parties (referred to as “over the top” applications) are NOT covered by this agreement.
- The four carriers will make text-to-9-1-1 services available to PSAPs no later than May 15, 2014, at which point PSAPs may request text-to-9-1-1 services after becoming ready to receive texts.
- The service providers will implement a bounce-back (auto-reply) message by June 30, 2013 to alert subscribers to make a voice call to 9-1-1 when text-to-9-1-1 is not available.
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