WSP (Wireless Service Provider)

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The FCC established rules requiring wireless carriers to implement

basic 911 and E911 services. Under the Commission's E911 Phase I

requirement, 47 C.F.R. 20.18(d)(1), as of April 1, 1998, covered carriers

must provide the telephone number of the 911 caller and the location of the

cell site or base station receiving a 911 call from any mobile handset

accessing their systems to the designated Public Safety Answering Point

(PSAP) through the use of Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and

Pseudo-ANI. The Phase I requirement, however, is applicable to the carriers

only if the administrator of the designated PSAP has requested the services,

the PSAP is capable of receiving and utilizing the data elements associated

with the service, and a mechanism for re- covering the costs of the service

is in place. See 47 C.F.R. 20.18(f).

This does not mean that wireless carriers may not recover their

costs in implementing E911. Because their rates are deregulated, CMRS

carriers may recover their service costs through those rates without waiting

for a State-adopted mechanism. The carriers also are free to work with the

State legislatures or officials to adopt specific mechanisms for carriers'

cost recovery, which may well result in the most expeditious delivery of

E911 service in certain circumstances. We note here, moreover, that the

revised rule does not disturb current State or local cost recovery schemes

that include the carriers' costs. Nevertheless, we do not condition a

carrier's obligation upon the availability of such State-mandated mechanisms

for the recovery of the carrier's costs.