The FCC "conditionally approved, with certain modifications, the compliance plans of five nationwide carriers," the FCC announced in a release. Nextel, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and Cingular were all beneficiaries of the FCC deadline extension.
Under the FCCs "enhanced 911" (E911) guidelines, wireless carriers were supposed to have begun selling and activating phones embedded with automatic positioning capabilities no later than Oct 1. By Dec. 31, GPS-enabled phones must account for 25 percent of the handsets sold by wireless carriers.
But the FCC today announced that it would allow the five companies named to adhere to "a modified schedule for some of the initial 2001 and 2002 deployment milestones."
Advocates of E911 technology say it will be a huge boon to public safety, allowing police and emergency crews to quickly find crime and accident scenes, even in cases in which a caller is unsure of his or her location.
But privacy advocates worry that the location technology that lies at the core of the E911 system could open the door to substantial privacy violations by entities seeking to locate individuals who dont want to be found.
Despite the Oct. 1 deadline, virtually all of the nations wireless carriers applied with the FCC for deadline waivers.
The FCC announced that its Enforcement Bureau would be charged with making sure that the five companies adhere to the new deadlines established under todays orders.
David McGuire, Newsbytes
