CRTC demands NG911 network upgrade by 2020

The CRTC has started the clock on next-generation 911 (NG911) services, directing the country’s telcos to ready their networks to fully support sending emergency information via text, photo or video messages by the end of 2020. Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) must be ready to switch over to an Internet protocol-based network to provide 911 voice service by the end of June 2020 and text-to-911 service by the end of December 2020, the commission said in a Thursday decision. “The safety of Canadians is largely dependent on timely and efficient access to emergency services. As new capabilities become available, we must ensure that Canada’s emergency system adapts,” Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in a press release. All telecom service providers will also have to meet the June 2020 deadline for next-generation 911 voice calls “wherever their networks are capable of doing so” and “where PSAPs have launched” the service. Mobile wireless providers will also have to meet the December 2020 deadline to provide real-time-text-based 911 messaging, with the same provisions. The decision comes following a nearly year-long proceeding, which began at the end of March 2016, and included a week-long public hearing. During the hearing, the commission heard calls to break up the current ILEC-operated network structure, put it under the auspices of the CRTC or another national consortium and open it up to a competitive bid process to find a single operator. But the CRTC said it was sticking with the current format that gives it oversight over the ILEC stewardship of the 911 network. “The PSAPs were supportive of that approach,” Chris Seidl, the CRTC’s executive director of telecommunications, said in a phone interview. “They’ve been receiving a positive experience in the existing reliable and secure networks that are in place and we felt that’s the approach to get there in the timeframe that we desired.” As ILECs, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. operate the lions’ share of the country’s 911 networks. “The Next Generation 911 system outlined in today’s decision represents a true evolution of emergency services, and it will provide increased accessibility and interactivity for all Canadians. TELUS supports the CRTC’s vision for NG911, and we’re proud to be selected to deliver such a critical piece of infrastructure in BC, Alberta and Eastern Québec,” Telus said in an email statement. “We look forward to working with the CRTC and our PSAP partners over the course of the build.” In an email, Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said the “decision puts us on the right path towards implementing next generation 9-1-1 service for Canadians. We look forward to working with our partners in industry and government to develop and test the necessary systems over the next 3 years.” According to the decision, Bell and Telus will have to start lab trials of NG911 services this year and field test voice service “with certain PSAPs and TSPs in their respective operating territories” next year. Tests of the text-messaging services “will need to be conducted in certain parts of Canada where all key NG9-1-1 stakeholders are ready and willing to do so” in both English and French, the decision said. However, the timeline for the actual use of the network to provide enhanced 911 services will be up to individual municipal, provincial and territorial governments and their emergency call centres to work out. “Our jurisdiction ends at the network level,” Seidl said, noting the service provision falls to those in the “emergency responder world” and the public safety answering points (PSAPs). “We’re creating the infrastructure to allow them to offer the services.” Seidl added that much like the existing text-with-911 service — only available for Canadians who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired — there will likely be early adopters and those who take more time to roll it out. There has already been movement towards the advanced services in some jurisdictions. Last summer, Toronto city council approved a motion to ask the Toronto Police Services to investigate accepting 911 text messages. “I fully hope there will be more co-ordination on the provincial and territorial level to have a broader roll out in a timely fashion,” Seidl said. The CRTC has asked Public Safety Canada to lead and establish a new national body to co-ordinate the PSAPs’ and emergency responders’ transition to next-generation 911. “Many stakeholders need to combine their efforts to provide Canadians with an innovative and effective NG9-1-1 system,” Blais said in the release. In a statement Thursday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he welcomed the CRTC’s decision and the federal government supports its “recommendations and with our provincial and territorial partners, first responders, emergency services providers and other stakeholders will continue to work together to modernize public safety communications.” Diane Pelletier, chairwoman of the NG9-1-1 Coalition of the Willing, a volunteer group of 911 experts that intervened in the proceeding, said in an email that the group was “pleased that the Commission has released its decision today and we will be reviewing the document and considering the impacts over the next few weeks. As a stakeholder group we recognize that the tasks ahead will be challenging but we look forward to our continued participation and contribution to the NG 9-1-1 evolution for Canada.” Details about how the new services will be funded have yet to be determined, but the decision said “that as a general principle, all service providers that provide an NG9-1-1 service that enables their subscribers to communicate with a PSAP over the NG9-1-1 networks should contribute to the funding of those networks.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

CRTC demands NG911 network upgrade by 2020

News | June 1, 2017

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CRTC demands NG911 network upgrade by 2020

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