| 2009 |
| July 6 |
9IA responds to the FCC’s Notice seeking comments on the issue of competition for 9-1-1 network/system services. Read our filing here. |
| June 10 |
 Kevin Murray, 9IA Chairman addresses the National Emergency Number general session on June 10th in Fort Worth TX.
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| June 3 |
State's Continue 9-1-1 Fund Raiding
Already, the states of Oregon, Hawaii and Delaware have taken millions of dollars collected as 911 fees and transferred it to their general funds, and several other states have considered taking similar action
Snowden said governments may use the diverted 911 for "noble" causes, but the practice of raiding 911 coffers to balance state budget is still comparable to fraud. Read More... |
| May 28 |
VENDORS TARGET PUBLIC SAFETY WITH POOR PRODUCTS, SPEAKERS SAY
"They have been sold a lot of crap," Thomas Cellucci, DHS’s chief commercialization officer, said in a presentation at a Washington conference sponsored by the agency’s Science and Technology Directorate. He added that it is important for vendors to show first responders "that these products and technologies work."
9IA is looking forward to working with DHS to demonstrate many dispatch solutions that are revolutionizing public safety and is saddened by Mr. Cellucci's comments. 9IA has reached out to DHS for the last 6 years, and see's this new interest as a positive.
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| May 28 |
9IA supports the Texas legislature and lends support to their new legislation regarding the retail collection for prepaid wireless devices. See our letter of support here. |
| May 18 |
Louisiana and Texas state Senates pass legislation covering prepaid wireless funding. LA imposed a $0.60 surcharge per retail transaction and Texas enacted a 2% fee per "transaction." Both these landmark bills represent a willingness to collect at the retail level to help pay for 9-1-1 services offered to prepaid wireless consumers. See the full text of the legislation here. |
| Apr 30 |
Applicants for Recovery Act broadband stimulus grants are required to register at www.grants.gov. Registration
can commence immediately. The process is reasonably straightforward. |
| Apr 30 |
President Obama selects Mignon L. Clyburn, Nominee for Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
Mignon Clyburn has been a member of the Public Service Commission of South Carolina since 1998. The Public Service Commission regulates South Carolina’s investor owned public utilities, including providers of telecommunications services. |
| Apr 23 |
Prepaid growth to outpace postpaid
Prepaid subscriber growth is set to outpace postpaid growth for the first time ever this year, according to analysts surveyed by the Associated Press. The economic recession, combined with the proliferation of unlimited plans around the $50 price point has made prepaid a more attractive offering than before, and it is contributing to a change in the composition of carriers' subscriber bases. See full article here. |
| Apri 1 |
 Congress has declared April National 9-1-1 Education Month to underscore the importance of 9-1-1 education and to ensure safety and security within our communities. In support of National 9-1-1 Education Month, 9IA member Intergraph, has prepared a Web-based toolkit to assist industry partners in educating their constituents’ local communities on how to most effectively use 9-1-1. |
| Mar 31 |
9IA is meeting with the prepaid wireless industry in Las Vegas March 31rst prior to the annual CTIA convention to find ways to work together for the collection, remitance, and protection for prepaid wireless phones and public safety industry. |
| Mar 24 |
9IA files letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of protecting the nations 9-1-1 network from frivilous patent claims. Kim Scovill, 9IA's specialist on the E9-1-1 patent issue is helping craft the association strategy going forward.
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| Mar 6 |
FCC ISSUES THREE UNIVERSAL SERVICE ORDERS - granted Petitions by TracFone and Virgin Mobile related to the provision of Lifeline service through the universal service low-cost mechanisms. Interestingly it modified its previous order for TracPhone that required them to be certified by 9-1-1 centers that they comply with all state 9-1-1 laws. TracPhone asked the commission to allow them to be able to self certify after 90 days. Read more details on the order here. |
| Mar 5 |
Prepaid Fees coming in Louisiana Communications districts in four local parishes are petitioning the state to close a loophole in a law that allows those customers to avoid the fee. Full article here. |
| Mar 2 |
Prepaid phones grew 13% in 2008. These new devices pose challenges to public safety funding and are a leading cause of fraudulent calls to 9-1-1. Read the New York Times article here. |
| Feb 18 |
Tiburon joins the 9-1-1 Industry Alliance. Tiburon a leading public safety software company has joined the 9IA. Mike Perez, Vice President will be representing the company at the association. |
| Feb 18 |
The Attorney General of New Jersey has informed all PSAPs that they will no longer be getting any revenue from the surcharge. In fact, funds recently collected that where ready for distribution has been placed in the General Treasury to be used as the State sees fit. Stay tuned for more information. |
| Feb 3 |
The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau recently announced that it will host a Summit on Deployment and Operational Guidelines for Next Generation IP-Enabled 9-1-1 and Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) Services, to be held on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. |
| Jan 29 |
Acting FCC Chairman Copps has appointed David Furth as the Acting Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau effective 1-30-2009. |
| Jan 21 |
Julius Genachowski will be nominated to be the next FCC Chairman. During the presidential campaign, Genachowski served as the top technology advisor to Obama, putting together a detailed technology and innovation plan that supported open Internet or “net neutrality” protections; media ownership rules that encourage diversity; and expansion of affordable broadband across the country. He was also a key adviser to the transition team. He was also counsel to FCC Chairman Hundt during the Clinton Administration.
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| Jan 15 |
House Appropriations Committee released a summary of the draft economic stimulus legislation. Unfortunately, none of the recommendations for 911 were addressed. See a summary of some of the public safety provisions here. |
| Jan 7 |
Canada's telecom regulator yesterday announced firm deadlines for wireless carriers to be able to locate wireless 9-1-1 callers. This is the first time a firm deadline had been imposed. 9IA was recently quoted in an article and briefing to the CRTC on this topic. See the full article here. |
| 2008 |
| Dec 3 |
The Congressional Research Service recently published a report titled Emergency Communications: The Future of 911. In this report to congress it quotes the 9-1-1 Industry Alliance report numerous times, along with NENA's Next Generation work. Check out the resources section of our site for the full report and many other resources on 9-1-1 |
| Dec 2 |
Are you a business serving the Public Safety industry? Find out directly from our board of directors why this is the perfect time to join your colleagues in working on improving the public safety industry. Click here for an invitation from our board. |
| Oct 30 |
The U.S. Department of Transportation released the Next Generation 9-1-1 Proof-of-Concept Demonstration Report. See how this project results were. |
| Oct 30 |
The Washington Post recently outlined the significant increase in 9-1-1 calls from cellular devices. Read some of the statistics today and get a sense of why this volume of calls is stretching 9-1-1. Click here to read the article. |
| Oct 24 |
On Oct. 21rst the FCC released its order on the NET 911 Act implementation. It is our belief that this is the first step in opening up the proprietary 9-1-1 network to allow for next generation providers to enhance services and connections to PSAPs across the country. To read the order goto: http://www.fcc.gov/FCC-08-249A1.pdf
This is not a full endorsement but is a step in the right direction that is needed as our 9-1-1 infrastructure is based on a 40 year old design we have today that was built to serve wired not wireless devices. |
| Oct 13 |
The Department of Transportation has released the rules to apply for the $48m grant funding released under the Enhanced 911 Act. See the full set of rules here. The 9IA is pleased that these rules include that all applicants have a designated state director with a sumbited state plan, protection to ensure 9-1-1 funds are used for 911 purposes only and not diverted to general state funds. This exciting grant program will help kick start NG 9-1-1 programs across the country. |
| Jul 29 |
Next Generation 9-1-1 Estimated to save money
An analysis by Booz Allen Hamilton estimated the cost of the New Generation system could be less than the current one over the next 20 years. It estimated the system to cost $57 billion to $64 billion in that span, compared to $55 billion to $79 billion for the current system, Chiaramonte said. Full article here. |
| Mar. 14 |
Public safety community praises report recommending '911' changes. Recent article discusses 9IA's report. |
| Mar. 5 |
On Wednesday, March 5, 2008, the 9-1-1 Industry Alliance (9IA) presented its findings of the report on the health of the 9-1-1 Emergency Network. Full press release. See NBC coverage of report release. |