FCC task force outlines upcoming work on cybersecurity, architecture and funding for next-gen 911

There is no schedule for carriers to complete the transition to all-IP networks, because of several factors, including the need to continue to serve legacy PSAPs and to meet regulatory guidelines at the state and federal level.

David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC’s public-safety and homeland-security bureau, reminded TFOPA members that their recommendations will be used to advise FCC commissioners on future items.

“The focus should still be on what is it that PSAPs … need to do to be ready [for NG911]—that’s still the primary technical task,” Furth said. “But it has a major application in terms of how we shape policy for other parts of the ecosystem.”

Phil Jones, chairman of the resource working group in his last TFOPA meeting, noted that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has been very active in his efforts to push for greater support of NG911 efforts at the federal level, but no NG911 legislation has been introduced. At the state level, Nebraska recently passed a law creating a commission to evaluate the situation and deliver a report in December 2017 outlining how to fund the NG911 transition.

Meanwhile, TFOPA Chairman Steve Souder said that it is important to begin educating key elected officials and administrators about NG911 as soon as possible, so they are prepared when policy and funding decisions have to made.

“It may be above their head, and it may bore them to death,” Souder said. “But the bottom line is that, at some point downstream, they’re going to be thrust into that discussion.

“And it’s better that they have been at least on the peripheral of hearing why we’re doing what we’re doing—recognizing the many moving parts of that, having a new appreciation of what it may cost—so, when they get proposals put before them, they at least will say, ‘I’ve been there, I understand, and we support that.’”