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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  October  10,  2003  Chelsea  Fallon  at  (202)  418-  7991 
 FCC  CREATES  WINDOW  FOR  SMALLEST  WIRELESS  CARRIERS  TO  DEMONSTRATE  UNIQUE  E911  CIRCUMSTANCES 
 Establishes  Orderly  6-  Month  Process  for  Case-  by-  Case  Review  of  Implementation  Plans 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  Today,  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  (FCC)  released  an  Order  reaffirming  its  commitment  to  provide  consumers  in  every  region  of  the  country,  including  rural  America, 
 a  comparable  level  of  Enhanced  911  (E911)  emergency  services.  E911  services  allow  public  safety  agencies  to  obtain  accurate  information  about  the  location  of  an  emergency  caller  dialing  911  from  a 
 cellular  phone.  The  Order  offers  further  guidance  to  approximately  90  of  the  country’s  smallest  wireless  carriers  that  serve  no  more  than  500,000  subscribers  (Tier  III  carriers),  providing  them  with  limited 
 additional  time  to  provide  the  FCC  with  additional  data,  and  establishing  a  process  of  reviewing  implementation  plans  within  six  months. 


 Certain  Tier  III  carriers  have  asked  for  various  types  of  relief  from  the  Commission’s  E911  rules,  claiming,  among  other  things,  that  it  would  be  technically  or  economically  impossible  for  them  to  meet 
 the  Commission’s  accuracy  and  reliability  standards  in  the  rural  areas  that  they  primarily  serve.  While  demonstrating  its  willingness  to  help  individual  carriers  that  face  technical  and  economic  challenges,  the 
 Commission  cautioned  that,  due  to  the  overwhelming  public  interest  benefits  of  E911  service,  these  carriers  face  a  heavy  burden  when  seeking  a  further  stay  of  their  E911  service  obligations.  The 
 Commission  will  only  grant  carriers  relief  from  their  E911  obligations  when  extraordinary  circumstances  exist. 


 The  Tier  III  carriers  seeking  a  stay  of  certain  E911  deployment  obligations  fell  into  three  categories.  First,  carriers  seeking  an  extension  of  deployment  benchmarks  for  handset  and  network-  based 
 systems  equal  to  or  less  than  the  extension  already  granted  to  other  Tier  III  carriers  in  the  Commission’s  July  2002  Non-  Nationwide  Carriers  Order  were  granted  the  same  extension  of  September  1,  2003  to 
 begin  deployment  of  such  systems.  Second,  Tier  III  carriers  seeking  further  extensions  or  other  relief  from  certain  E911  requirements  were  granted  a  temporary  stay  of  not  more  than  six  months  from  the 
 release  of  this  Order.  Tier  III  carriers  with  pending  waiver  petitions  were  given  one  month  to  supplement  their  filings  before  the  Commission  begins  to  rule  on  the  merits  of  those  requests.  Third,  Tier  III  carriers 
 seeking  temporary  forbearance  from  the  enforcement  of  the  accuracy  and  reliability  standards  of  the  Phase  II  E911  requirements  were  given  a  temporary  stay  of  not  more  than  six  months,  or  until  the 
 Commission  rules  on  their  forbearance  requests,  whichever  is  shorter.  As  the  case-  by-  case  review  process  moves  forward,  the  Commission  expects  carriers  to  continue  to  roll  out  E911  service  as  quickly 
 and  efficiently  as  possible. 
 If  a  carrier  anticipates  that  it  may  be  unable  to  meet  its  E911  obligations,  it  is  the  carrier’s  burden  to  demonstrate,  in  a  timely  manner,  the  extraordinary  circumstances  that  prevent  its  compliance  with  our 
 E911  rules  and  that  good  cause  exists  for  temporary  relief  from  those  rules.  Today’s  decision  provides 
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 guidance  that  a  “good  cause”  showing  should  be  as  narrowly  tailored  as  possible,  and  should  demonstrate  that  a  carrier  has  taken  all  possible  concrete  steps  to  achieve  full  compliance  as  quickly  as  possible  and 
 that  a  grant  of  relief  would  not  be  contrary  to  the  public  interest. 
 Action  by  the  Commission,  October  10,  2003,  by  Order  to  Stay  (FCC  03-  241).  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps,  Martin,  and  Adelstein. 


 FCC  Contact:  Eugenie  Barton,  (202)  418-  1732,  email:  Eugenie.  Barton@  fcc.  gov. 
 CC  Docket  No.  94-  102 
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