GATINEAU – The question of whether incumbent carriers should continue leading 911 development or if a new CRTC-run entity should drive it, was in the spotlight on the first day of the CRTC’s hearing on the subject.
Some groups argued a national entity with oversight from the Commission would be more effective at rolling out the next iteration of emergency telecommunication services nationally. Telus suggested, on the other hand during its appearance in front of commissioners, this would only create headaches.
The NG911 Coalition of the Willing kicked off the hearing, noting that a national entity is ideally suited to usher in next-gen 911 services. Such a national organization could facilitate legislation required to implement the newer emergency services and would be able to co-ordinate building out the network nationally.
A representative for the chiefs of police, the fire chiefs and the chiefs for paramedics – the Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group (CITIG) – agreed that a national approach with a consistent funding model is the best way forward for next-gen 911.
“We recognize that co-ordinating the operational development of NG 911 capabilities is not within the Commission’s mandate or responsibility. However, we urge the Commission to work with all stakeholders, including the telecommunications service providers it regulates, to establish and support a national organization that would assume this responsibility,” added Eric Torunski, executive director of CITIG.
Telus argued that there is no need to create another national body to oversee NG911. Eric Edora, director of regulatory affairs at Telus, noted that all this would do is create more bureaucracy.
“There is no reason to develop an additional, more complex form of administration.” – Eric Edora, Telus
“The CRTC’s own Emergency Services Working Group is the forum where different stakeholders representing TSPs, 911 network providers, PSAPs and first responders meet and collaborate on different initiatives and 911 developments. This model has worked well to date and there is no reason to develop an additional, more complex form of administration,” he added.
Under questioning, the company explained further why there are problems with a national co-ordinating entity. The Coalition of the Willing Proposal seemed to suggest that the money gathered through the national entity would be used to fund the public safety answering points (PSAPs), and this doesn’t work jurisdictionally.
“To our view that type of model does not work because the funding of the PSAPs is done by provincial and local governments and so we weren’t sure from their proposal how a national consortium would gather monies for disbursements to the PSAPs for their own implementations,” said Edora. “That seems to us to be a function for the local and provincial governments in terms of the allocation they want to make to their 911 call centres.”
The company argued that funding for next-gen 911 should come from general tax revenues. In the alternative, the CRTC could rely on the mechanisms established in the contribution regime to collect money (which would come from all customer bills) to fund the buildout of the new emergency services network.
Telus also noted in its appearance that the next-generation 911 network won’t be a single national network but rather one that is comprised of multiple, interconnected networks. This, added the company, will make for a robust network and be more efficient to implement.
Regardless of the whether the CRTC opts for a single national network guided by a coordinating entity or sticks with the existing method, it’s clear 911 needs to be upgraded to handle the changing communications environment (text 911, photo and video to 911 call centres, etc.). As Calgary 911 explained in its testimony, NG911 is not even future proof but rather deals with current communications behaviours.
“We believe that NG911 is not a thing or an endpoint, but rather a concept that will continue to evolve. As such we believe the focus of building NG911 systems should be less about any particular features such as texting, SMS, or receiving pictures, and more about creating a digitally networked platform, that enables continuous adoption of emerging capabilities that makes sense for 911 and emergency responders,” said Magni Magnason, acting deputy commander of technical services for Calgary 911.
