ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Chris Kellett (CRTC Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG))
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Ottawa, 6 November 2014
BY EMAIL
Mr. Chris Kellett
Chair - CRTC Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG)
chris.kellett@eswg9-1-1.ca
Re: Initiation of a task in a CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) Working Group and the CRTC’s 9-1-1 action plan
Dear Mr. Kellet:
The purpose of this letter is to provide the CISC Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) with guidance on how to proceed given the lack of consensus amongst ESWG participants on the creation of a task.
Specifically, Commission staff understands that Bell Canada, supported by other participants, has proposed the creation of a task intended to assess the technical feasibility of providing Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) with a wireless subscriber’s billing address to assist in locating the caller during an emergency. However, some ESWG participants have objected to the creation of this task, indicating that there are policy issues that need to be first determined by the Commission, and because the Commission, as part of its 9-1-1 action plan, has indicated a process by which this issue is to be considered.
The CISC is composed of a Steering Committee, Working Groups and Ad Hoc committees, whose mandate and structure are defined by the Commission. The CISC Administrative Guidelines describe the mandate of CISC, its organization and the procedures that apply to its Working Groups and tasks.
According to the CISC Administrative Guidelines, when a task is proposed within a Working Group by a party other than the Commission, the decision to initiate the task and the subsequent creation of a Task Identification Form (TIF) is subject to acceptance by the Working Group. Where there is acceptance, the TIF is created and sent to the Steering Committee for approval.
The CISC Administrative Guidelines do not include a specific process for the Steering Committee to make determinations on the creation of a new Working Group task proposed by a party other than the Commission, which has not been accepted by the Working Group participants. Furthermore, the dispute resolution process outlined in the CISC Administrative Guidelines relates specifically to an impasse that occurs as the Working Group is in the process of addressing an already approved task.
Commission staff reminds the ESWG of the Commission’s activities, outlined in the Commission’s 9-1-1 action plan (Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-342), related to this topic, in which the Commission stated that it intends to further explore ways to improve the location information transmitted to PSAPs including a fact-finding exercise to assess the reliability and technical feasibility of providing PSAPs with a wireless subscriber’s billing address for 9-1-1 purposes at the time of an emergency. Commission staff expects to initiate this fact-finding exercise shortly. This will assist the Commission in examining whether existing policies surrounding this topic should remain or be modified.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Michel Murray,
Director, Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector
c.c: James Ndirangu, CRTC, 819-997-3670, james.ndirangu@crtc.gc.ca
Renee Doiron, CRTC, 819-997-2755, renee.doiron@crtc.gc.ca
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