Wireless Carrier 911 location Accuracy Plan Not Sufficient, Says NextNav

NextNav commends any cooperative effort to investigate new approaches to improving indoor next-generation 911 location accuracy but is concerned that the discussions about a consensus plan released this week lacked inclusiveness and measurable near-term results. NextNav referred to a plan for improved location accuracy technology led by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and public safety organizations (see 1411190064). "Although the sincerity of the signatories is clear, the likely positive outcome is less so," NextNav said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-114. The road map ignores the long-standing position of first responders and others "that the availability of vertical location information in multistory urban environments is of critical importance to their constituency," it said. It also fails to address indoor location accuracy performance, it said. The ultimate responsibility for location accuracy for an emergency call would be spread over a "multiplicity of parties" that don't share the carriers' historic license obligations or the public safety sector's requirements for reliability and dependability, NextNav said.