U.S. Wireless Carrier Issues

As a result of rapid market, technology and policy developments in the area of mobile communications services, wireless carriers in the United States are facing numerous regulatory and legal questions affecting their operations and the services they provide. One of the leading issues now facing these carriers concerns the provision of precise location information for callers using mobile phones to make emergency 911 calls.

Six months after being blocked by a federal appeals court, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is once again poised to adopt rules imposing new E911 Phase II location accuracy requirements on wireless carriers. The proposed new rules consist of separate requirements for carriers utilizing handset-based location solutions (i.e., CDMA and iDEN carriers) and those utilizing network-based location solutions (i.e., GSM carriers). Although these proposals are less stringent than the rules that were blocked by the court, they would still place