CARRIERS ANNOUNCE E-911 CHOICES; SPRINT , NEXTEL TAP GPS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2000 6:22 PM
- Phillips Business Information
Nov. 15, 2000 (Global Positioning & Navigation News, Vol. 10, No. 23 via COMTEX) -- Wireless
carriers last week reported their technology choice - handset-, network- or hybrid-based - for
locating emergency callers, in compliance with the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission's (FCC) E-911 Phase II mandate.
The largest carrier to choose a handset solution was Sprint PCS [PCS], with 9 million
subscribers. The CDMA carrier selected Qualcomm's [QCOM] gpsOne technology, which
includes Qualcomm subsidiary SnapTrack's wireless-assisted position location. FCC requires
that carriers begin selling and activating location-capable handsets by Oct. 1, 2001.
Nextel [NXTL], with 6 million subscribers, also chose an assisted-GPS, handset-based solution,
but said it can't begin to deploy handsets until Oct. 1, 2002. As a user of Motorola's [MOT]
iDEN network, Nextel is dependent upon Motorola's schedule, and does not expect iDEN GPS
handsets before that time, it said. Nextel requested a waiver from FCC deadlines based on
these circumstances and its proposal to provide $25 million, over the next two years, to help
upgrade public safety answering point (PSAP) systems. Nextel likened its situation to that of
Voicestream [VSTR], a carrier granted a waiver by FCC.
"[Network-] assisted GPS in the handset is absolutely the most accurate technology out there,"
says Oliver Valente, Sprint PCS' chief technology officer. It's also "orders of magnitude less
expensive than network solutions," he says. Sprint expects to start offering GPS-capable
handsets in the second half of 2001, using suppliers such as Samsung, Sanyo, Denso and
Kyocera.
The FCC deadline is important in accelerating the location-based services market, as well.
"Most carriers are planning to offer location-based services in addition to location-based E-911,"
says Clem Driscoll, industry analyst and president of C.J. Driscoll Associates in Palos Verdes
Estates, Calif. Carriers are timing their implementation of location technology around the FCC's
E-911 deadline, he says. The Strategis Group, in Washington, D.C., estimates revenues from
consumer handset-based location services will reach $4 billion by 2004.
Among those choosing network-based location solutions are Verizon [VZ] and Qwest [Q]. AT&T
Wireless [AWE] told the FCC it could not yet make a decision.
Most carriers will go with a network-based location solution, predicts Frank Viquez, an analyst
with Allied Business Intelligence, in Oyster Bay, N.Y. GPS handsets are in limited supply, and
hardware issues, such as antenna integration and power requirements, have to be addressed,
he says.
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