State of Emergency
Despite all the FCC's efforts to get carriers ready to transmit location data to PSAPs, it has no authority to get the PSAPs ready to receive this data. Emergency call centers fall under local or state jurisdiction. Despite efforts from the FCC and cooperation from carriers, PSAPs are at the mercy of local governments that fund them.
To do their part, the carriers have cooperated with local governments by adding e911 tariffs on cell phone bills for years now. That money, which was supposed to be earmarked for PSAP upgrades, has been diverted by many states to cover other emergency costs. New York state has been noted as the worst offender, diverting e911 funds for everything from new police vehicles to winter boots. Last year the Federal government began created a committee to oversee e911 call center upgrades and offer $250 million per year grants to states that did not divert e911 funds to other projects.
As of the latest report, just over 40% of all PSAPs have been upgraded to Phase II compatibility. The outlook is slightly less bleak when broken down by population. According to this month's (July 2005) reports from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the organization that manages PSAP readiness, 57.5% of the US population has some coverage by a Phase II-ready call center.
This 57.5% is a best case scenario. It cannot account for callers on carriers that have not yet begun transmitting location data to those call centers, nor can it factor in the number of callers with or without aGPS phones. Still it shows some indication that many states are spending their resources to benefit the most residents, upgrading PSAPs in more populous areas first.
While that formula holds true on a local basis, it breaks down on a state wide basis. Only 4 of the 10 most populous states - California, Florida, Illinois and Texas - cover more than half of residents with Phase II compliant PSAPs. Ohio, the worst prepared of the top 10, covers less than 2% of its population.
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