Carr, Simington Disappointed FCC Relieves Wireless Carriers of Public Safety Obligations
Rather Than Requiring Carriers to Certify This Year, FCC Kicks the Can Down the Road

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2021—FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington issued the following joint statement in response to the settlement agreements the FCC announced today between the agency’s Enforcement Bureau and AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon regarding their obligations to provide certified lifesaving 911 vertical location information within 3 meters:

“In an emergency, every second counts.  That’s why the FCC adopted rules in 2015 that can save lives by helping first responders quickly locate 911 callers.  Through a series of decisions, the FCC required wireless carriers to identify the location of 911 callers within 3 vertical meters for 80% of all covered calls by April of this year.  The full Commission determined that holding wireless carriers to this standard was technically feasible and would potentially save over 10,000 lives per year—including the lives of first responders going into harm’s way. 

“So we were surprised and disappointed to learn through a news release that FCC leadership decided to relieve wireless carriers of their certification requirement.  The FCC is letting wireless carriers off the hook in exchange for $100,000 and a promise to provide whatever vertical location information they may have—however inaccurate it may be.  This agreement, negotiated without any input from our offices, is a bad deal for public safety.”

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Office of Commissioner Brendan Carr
www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
Media Contact:  Greg Watson
(202) 418-0658 or greg.watson@fcc.gov