FCC's Pai: Derecho Report Emphasizes Need for Next Gen 911

Calls it one more reasons to push IP transition

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/10/2013 1:51:28 PM

FCC commissioner Ajit Pai said Thursday that preventing further 911 disruptions during storms and other emergencies is a private-public team effort, and suggested a primary goal is the transition to IP.

He was responding to an FCC bureau report on communications failures during last summer's Derecho storm that hit the East Coast. Among that report's conclusions was that had next generation, IP-based 911 phone service been more widely available, some of the communications problems would have been lessened.

Pai agrees. "NG 911 will improve the safety of the American people, and it is a critical component of the all-IP world just over the horizon," he said in a statement. "That is one more reason why I look forward to working with my colleagues and the public safety community to facilitate a successful IP transition -- beginning with our recommendations to Congress, due next month, on the appropriate legal framework for NG 911 services."