STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER 
MICHAEL J. COPPS, APPROVING
Re: Wireless E911 Location Accuracy Requirements – CC Docket No. 94-102, PS Docket No. 
07-144 , WC Docket No. 05-196 and Notice of Proposed Rule Making (FCC 07-108).
 
 A call to 911 is among the most important calls that any of us will ever make. Customers 
deserve confidence that dialing these three digits will connect them to the help they need. And 
customers also need a realistic view of how well their current communications technologies will 
actually work in a crisis – because sometimes a false sense of reliance on a technology can be the 
most dangerous thing of all. Just consider the example of first responders focusing an exhaustive 
search for an injured caller on the ground next to 300 meters of highway – only to learn, too late, 
that the victim was actually 1000 meters down the road. Or consider the example of someone 
who “cuts the cord” and relies exclusively on an E911-capable cell phone – only to learn, again 
too late, that their phone cannot determine what floor their apartment is on and may not work 
inside the apartment at all.  
 I am pleased that today’s item raises a series of pressing and important questions about 
the Commission’s current E911 location accuracy standards. I am even more pleased that the 
item commits to a process for improving our wireless location accuracy that I think can lead 
to meaningful, and still expeditious, improvements in our emergency calling system.  We need to 
get a handle – a better handle than we presently have – on the precise capabilities and limitations 
of today's emergency calling technologies. It is clear that we still have a serious challenge in 
making and completing some in-building emergency calls. Such calls comprise, of course, a 
significant percentage of all emergency calls. We need to resolve that. Another study will look 
at the potential and costs of hybrid technologies that could combine, in one device, the 
technologies appropriate for both urban and rural calling. Successfully meeting this challenge 
could result in huge public safety gains for all Americans.
The Commission itself will conduct these studies, working of course with industry and 
public safety stakeholders as appropriate, but avoiding exclusive reliance on industry-
generated statistics and/or the self-assessments of technology solution providers. We don't have 
the time here to get bogged down in contentious technical and methodological disputes. By 
conducting real-world testing, the Commission can develop an independent body of knowledge 
upon which we all can rely, thereby freeing up industry, public safety advocates, and the 
Commission itself to move forward to working on constructive solutions. It is a front-and-center 
role for the Commission that public safety compels – there’s no way around it.  The process 
envisioned here is for the Commission to move full-speed ahead so it can expeditiously issue 
public reports setting forth its findings and potential solutions. I thank the Chairman for his 
commitment to initiate and complete these evaluations swiftly so that the issuance of a final 
order will not be unduly delayed.
 I want also to emphasize my belief that, after developing revised location accuracy and 
accuracy reporting standards, aggressive and thorough enforcement will continue to be important 
– just as enforcement has been important in getting us this far. Our commitment to enforcement 
will be part of the measure of our success as much as the nature of the rules themselves.  
 I look forward to working with the Chairman and my colleagues to ensure that the 
important work we begin here today ends up making the world a safer place for America’s 
wireless users. And my thanks to everyone here at the Commission who works so hard on these 
matters.