CRTC delays migration to next generation 911

The CRTC announced late Friday, Feb. 28 that it is delaying the timeline for transitioning to next generation 911 (NG911). The new regime was scheduled to take effect on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Instead it will be delayed until March 31, 2027. The commission said that most telecom service providers (TSPs) are ready for the new system, but provincial, territorial, and municipal emergency service organizations are not prepared and cannot make the necessary upgrades in time. Key 911 groups, such as the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, and the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada said without an extension, Canadians in regions which have not already transitioned to NG911 would lose service when the current emergency 911 (E911) system is decommissioned, which had been set to occur in 2025. When launched, the NG911 regime will permit contact with emergency services through voice calls and text messages. Public safety answering points (PSAPs), the recipients of those calls, must upgrade their networks. Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) must decommission the E911 components that will not be part of the NG911 network. The commission received submissions from telecoms, PSAPs, organizations representing interest groups, and one individual, Ottawan Mike Wood. Applicants said there are many challenges in reaching the March 4 deadline, including the inability to make the necessary investments, delays in getting equipment, limited testing resources, and delays with local governing authorities (LGAs) forging new NG911 agreements with network providers. The current wholesale E911 rates levied by Telus Corp., BCE Inc., and Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. are six cents, nine cents, and 43 cents, respectively. The interim wholesale rates for NG911 are 12 cents, 10 cents, and 22 cents, respectively. The regulator also ruled on two competing filings about the role of ILECs in the transition to NG911. The original NG911 framework declares that all ILECs–including small ILECs (SILECs) must act as network providers. But the proceeding illustrated that most SILECs have delegated their NG911 service to the larger players. The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association (ITPA) filed an intervention that sought to confirm SILECs as network providers and to direct wireless service providers to provide the number of customers with billing addresses in ITPA SILEC territory. Telus filed an application that declared that SILECs should be reclassified as originating network providers (ONPs). The commission agreed with Telus and dismissed the ITPA application. Ontario commissioner Bram Abramson disagreed with the ruling. “The majority’s decision to relegate small incumbent local exchange carriers’ Next-Generation 911 role takes the path of least resistance,” he wrote in a dissent appended to the full decision. “It seizes an opportunity created by the convergence of multiple operational dilemmas that mark the Canadian telecommunications system’s current phase in an ongoing transition.” He worried that regional players would be pushed to the sidelines by the new rules. “The majority has seized an opportunity to cut through complexity within one system, emergency communications, by pulling on a thread cross-stitched tightly within the larger telecommunications system in which emergency communications are nested,” he concluded. “At a time when Canadians distrust market over-concentration, the commission is directed to reduce barriers for providers that are regional or smaller than incumbents and our own strategic plan prioritizes competition–it is hard not to be wary of how pulling on that thread could erase SILECs’ role.” Yet another decision issued the same day rejected a proposal to fund 911 labs, which first responders had requested to force ILECs to test equipment. The CRTC said such a move was beyond its jurisdiction. ppark@thewirereport.ca

CRTC delays migration to next generation 911

Regulatory |
By Paul Park
| February 28, 2025

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CRTC delays migration to next generation 911

Regulatory | By Paul Park | February 28, 2025

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