Photo by RawPixel (Creative Commons)

The FCC, led by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, is working to develop a “single network future” in which satellite connectivity will help make terrestrial “dead zones” a thing of the past.  To advance this goal, the FCC in March 2024 adopted a “Supplemental Coverage from Space” (SCS) regulatory framework.

The Commission’s SCS framework will allow satellite operators and terrestrial wireless providers to collaborate to provide ubiquitous connectivity directly to consumer devices using spectrum previously allocated only to terrestrial service.  Once they satisfy the FCC’s legal and technical requirements and obtain SCS operational authority, partnering satellite and terrestrial operators will be able to work seamlessly together to provide coverage that neither network could achieve on its own.  Commercial wireless providers will be able to use satellite operators’ SCS offerings to reach customers in underserved, unserved, and remote areas where commercial wireless signals are scarce.

A primary goal of SCS is to promote public safety by expanding the geographic availability of emergency communications to consumers.  As it moves forward with this objective, the FCC is grappling with how to incorporate its 911 calling obligations into the new SCS framework.  To this end, the Commission is developing rules that govern how SCS 911 voice calls and 911 texts will be routed to the public safety answering points (PSAPs) that dispatch emergency aid to the 911 end user’s location.

Notably, the FCC in January 2024 adopted new 911 call-routing requirements for terrestrial commercial mobile radio service providers (CMRS providers).  These rules require CMRS carriers to implement “location-based routing” for transmitting 911 voice calls and real-time text communications to the PSAP that has jurisdiction to dispatch aid to the 911 caller’s location.  Location-based routing involves the use of information on the location of a device to route 911 communications to the appropriate PSAP.  With location-based routing in place, CMRS providers can use precise location information to route wireless 911 calls and texts.  According to the FCC, this requirement will reduce the frequency of 911 call misrouting to the wrong PSAP, errors that delay emergency response times and can cost lives.

In its March 2024 SCS order, the FCC adopted “interim” SCS 911 rules that account for the nascent nature of SCS technology and provide operators with greater flexibility than the 911 call-routing obligations applicable to CMRS providers.  Significantly, these obligations apply only to terrestrial operators, and not to the satellite operators whose facilities make the SCS offerings possible.

Under the FCC’s interim rules, terrestrial providers utilizing SCS arrangements to expand their coverage areas have two options for 911 call routing.  They must either: (1) use automatic location-based routing to route SCS 911 voice calls and 911 text messages to an appropriate PSAP, and transmit the caller’s phone number and available location information to the PSAP, or (2) use an emergency call center (ECC), at which ECC personnel must determine the emergency caller’s phone number and location and then transfer or otherwise direct the SCS 911 voice call or 911 text message or to an appropriate PSAP.

Looking beyond these interim rules, the FCC in its March 2024 item issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that asked for comment on whether, prospectively, it should require the use of location-based routing to transmit SCS 911 calls and 911 texts directly to appropriate PSAPs where technically feasible (as opposed to routing using an ECC).  Fundamentally, the FCC raises the question of whether SCS should be treated the same as CMRS with respect to 911 call-routing obligations, despite obvious technological differences between satellite and terrestrial operations.

Not surprisingly, the comments on SCS 911 issues over the past two months have revealed tension between the positions of public safety entities and SCS operators.  Two key public safety commenters believe the FCC should work to expedite the deployment of location-based routing for SCS 911 communications.

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has said that 911 service must not be compromised by the nature of the physical access network used by a caller’s device, and it urges the FCC to set and enforce firm deadlines to harmonize 911 requirements for SCS devices.  The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) similarly argues that the FCC should seek to ensure the public has a comparable experience with 911 regardless of whether the 911 call was made via terrestrial or satellite communications infrastructure.  APCO asks the FCC to extend its location-based routing requirements to SCS 911 calls to the extent feasible, and says that the Commission should require clear and convincing evidence in response to industry claims of infeasibility.

Commercial SCS commenters in this proceeding include terrestrial carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, and satellite operators AST SpaceMobile and SpaceX.  These providers believe that the FCC should maintain a flexible regulatory approach towards SCS and that it is premature to require 911 location-based routing for nascent and evolving SCS communications.  They argue that such a location-based routing requirement could hinder SCS development and that, given the current technical limitations of SCS, the FCC should retain the two routing options provided in its interim SCS 911 framework.  According to these companies, industry can continue to assess 911 routing issues as SCS is implemented and commercial service is provided.

The satellite operators also argue that that the FCC’s SCS 911 obligations should continue to apply solely to terrestrial providers, both because SCS satellite operators offer only a wholesale, private carriage product and because terrestrial carriers already possess call-routing experience and infrastructure and are best positioned to facilitate location-based routing.

T-Mobile counters that satellite operators should share responsibility for emergency SCS communications.  T-Mobile says that satellite operators should have an independent obligation to ensure that 911 communications are routed either directly to a PSAP or ECC, or to the home terrestrial provider’s network.

Over the next few months and potentially into 2025, the FCC will continue to listen to interested parties, evaluate the record, and ultimately determine the set of SCS 911 call-routing obligations that will apply to terrestrial providers and satellite operators going forward.  It remains to be seen whether the FCC will pursue the status quo approach advocated by the SCS commercial providers or a more demanding location-based routing policy like that favored by public safety commenters.  How the FCC settles on these issues will help shape the landscape for emergency communications in the coming single network future.

Steve Berman is an attorney at Lerman Senter PLLC, representing and advising clients before the FCC.  His practice focuses on regulatory, licensing, and spectrum policy issues faced by satellite and wireless providers.