Nationwide implementation of E911 by local wireline telephone companies began in the 1970s. With wireline E911 service, emergency calls are automatically routed to the appropriate 911 call center, and the call taker receives the telephone number and street address of the caller. In 1996, FCC adopted rules for wireless E911. Wireless E911 technology provides emergency responders with the location and callback number of a person calling 911 from a mobile phone. Implementing wireless E911 involves deploying technologies that are able to calculate the geographic coordinates of the caller’s location at the time of the call and display these coordinates as a location the call taker can understand. When a wireless caller dials 911, the call must be routed along the networks of both a wireless telephone company and a wireline telephone company before terminating at a call center, known as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). There are more than 6,000 PSAPs nationwide, often at a county or city level. PSAPs vary in size and technical sophistication. Some large urban PSAPs have dozens of call takers and split the functions of call taking and dispatching the proper emergency responder. Smaller PSAPs are sometimes staffed by only two or three call takers who also handle dispatch. In some rural areas, the PSAP may be the sheriff’s office. As shown in figure 1, the wireless carriers, local exchange carriers, and PSAPs must have appropriate equipment and interconnections for wireless E911 calls to be sent to and received by PSAPs with the caller’s location information. For example, wireless carriers must finance the implementation of a caller location solution and test their equipment to verify its accuracy. Local exchange carriers are generally responsible for ensuring that all the necessary connections between wireless carriers, PSAPs, and databases have been installed and are operating correctly. The original E911 system was designed to carry only the caller’s telephone number with the call, and the associated fixed address was obtained from an established database. Wireless E911, however, requires more data items, and the mobile caller’s location must be obtained during the call and delivered to the PSAP separately using additional data delivery capabilities. To translate the latitude and longitude location information into a street address, PSAPs usually must acquire and install mapping software. PSAPs may also need to acquire new computers to receive and display this information. Getting PSAPs the technology needed to receive wireless E911 location information is primarily a state and local responsibility because PSAPs serve an emergency response function that has traditionally fallen under state or local jurisdiction. As a result, states and local jurisdictions establish timetables for implementation by their PSAPs and fund the equipment upgrades needed by their PSAPs for E911 service. The only federally mandated time frames for implementing wireless E911 technologies are those placed on wireless carriers by FCC. In 1996, FCC responded to the rising number of mobile telephone subscribers and the resulting increase in wireless 911 calls by adopting rules for wireless E911 that established a two-phase implementation approach for the wireless carriers and set deadlines for wireless carriers regarding their part in E911 deployment.months of a request from a PSAP, wireless carriers be prepared to provide the PSAP with the wireless phone number of the caller and the location of the cell site receiving the 911 call (Phase I information); and (2) by October 2001, or within 6 months of receiving a request from a PSAP, wireless carriers be prepared to provide the PSAP with the geographic coordinates of the caller’s location with greater precision, FCC required that (1) by April 1998, or within 6 generally within 50 to 300 meters (Phase II information). As we reported in 2006, most states and the District of Columbia collect fees to cover the costs of implementing wireless E911. States collect fees on a variety of telecommunications services including wireline, wireless, “prepaid wireless,” and VoIP. DOT has recognized the relationship between wireless E911 services and highway safety and, in 2001, contracted with NENA to develop a state/county database that tracks E911 implementation. As part of the contract, NENA created a database of counties, including information about implementation of wireless E911, which is updated with data gathered directly from state and county representatives. Now completely funded by NENA, the database is accessible through http://www.nena.org. The New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (NET 911 Act) requires FCC to submit an annual report to Congress detailing the status in each state of the collection and distribution of fees or charges for the support or implementation of 911 or E911 services to ensure transparency and accountability. The annual reports are to include findings on the amount of revenues obligated or expended by each state or political subdivision thereof for any purpose other than the purpose specified in the state or local law adopting the fee or charge. FCC has submitted four reports to Congress covering the state activities of calendar years 2008 to 2011. In addition, the National 911 Program— housed within NHTSA’s Office of Emergency Medical Services—has helped to provide federal leadership and coordination in supporting and promoting optimal 911 services." Because of changes in the public’s use of communications technology and the aging infrastructure of the legacy 911 network, 911 services are transitioning to an NG911 system that uses Internet Protocol (IP)-based technology to deliver and process 911 traffic. Such a system will provide increased capabilities as shown in table 1. With NG911, PSAPs are expected to be able to process all types of emergency communications including voice, data, and video. According to NENA, Emergency Services IP Networks are among the basic building blocks required for NG911. They are managed, multipurpose networks that support public safety communications services and use broadband technology capable of carrying voice plus large amounts of data using Internet protocols and standards. As part of the NG911 Initiative, DOT has created an NG911 system design and tested it to show that the design will be capable of accommodating communications from a wider range of devices including cellular calls, instant messaging, wireline calls, “telematics” (automatic crash notification data directly from the vehicle), VoIP calls, and live video feeds. In September 2009, NHTSA and NTIA announced more than $40 million in grants to help PSAPs implement E911 and NG911 technologies. To be eligible for the program, the applicant had to certify that the state and other taxing jurisdictions within the state had not used designated E911 funds for any other purpose than for which they were designated within 180 days preceding the application date. The grant period concluded at the end of 2012. In all, NHTSA and NTIA awarded grants ranging from $200,000 to $5.4 million to 30 states and territories to help implement NG911 services. NHTSA officials told us that they are currently conducting an evaluation of the grant program and that they will release a final report on http://www.911.gov. Although states faced challenges and delays in the past, they have made significant progress implementing wireless E911. According to NENA data as of March 2013, 98 percent of PSAPs are capable of receiving Phase I location information and 97 percent have implemented Phase II for at least one wireless carrier. This represents a significant improvement in implementation since our previous reports in 2003 and 2006 as shown in table 2. According to NENA data, 142 U.S. counties (representing roughly 3 percent of the U.S. population) do not have some level of wireless E911 service. According to federal and association officials, these areas are primarily rural or tribal counties that face special challenges implementing wireless E911 service. According to the National 911 Program, rural agencies may lack the funding resources needed for technology upgrades, equipment, and training. Rural and tribal areas typically are large geographically but less densely populated than urban areas. In addition, because it may take first responders longer to reach the scene of an emergency, call-takers in PSAPs serving rural areas may be required to stay on the phone longer with callers or provide more extensive emergency instruction to callers until help arrives. Furthermore, federal and local officials told us about the following specific challenges facing rural and tribal areas: Tribal lands face special challenges related to 911 services because of several barriers to improving telecommunications on tribal lands. We have previously reported that the barriers to improving telecommunications on tribal lands most often cited by tribal officials, service providers, and others we spoke with were the rural, rugged terrain of tribal lands and tribes’ limited financial resources. These barriers increase the costs of deploying infrastructure and limit the ability of service providers to recover their costs, which can reduce providers’ interest in providing or improving telecommunications services. Other barriers include the shortage of technically trained tribal members and providers’ difficulty in obtaining rights of way to deploy their infrastructure on tribal lands. The limited emergency response resources typical of rural areas can be relatively quickly overwhelmed in disasters or large-scale incidents, according to the National 911 Program. For example, officials from rural counties in one state told us that their PSAPs were overwhelmed with multiple calls following a recent derailed train incident. These calls paralyzed their 911 systems and prevented other 911 calls from reaching the PSAPs during the incident. According to FCC officials, network-based “triangulation”—a solution used by some wireless carriers to determine a caller’s location— depends on the ability of three cell towers to access the caller’s Network-based triangulation can be particularly mobile device.challenging in rural areas that have fewer cell towers than more densely populated areas. According to rural officials in one state we contacted, some homes in rural areas do not have addresses and some streets do not have names. Before E911 can be implemented in these areas, addresses will have to be created and mapping of those addresses will have to be completed so that automated location services can be provided.