Cell phone carriers have made great strides rolling out the service in recent months to thousands of emergency call centers, said Michael Altschul, a senior vice president and general counsel with the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.
More details would be announced Thursday, Altschul told a FCC gathering of industry and government officials and public safety workers involved with developing wireless 911 service.
When someone dials 911 on a traditional phone, emergency operators can trace the call to a street address. But creating a system for locating cell phone users who call 911 has been a challenge for wireless companies, regulators and workers at the nation's more than 7,000 emergency dispatch centers.
The FCC set deadlines in 1996 for implementing E911 service. The regulations require wireless companies to respond to 911 center requests within six months by providing technology that can locate people by using phone networks or handsets that gather information from global positioning satellites.
Carriers that choose the handset option must have 95 percent of their customers' handsets using the technology by the end of 2005.
Altschul said wireless companies are meeting those deadlines.
Despite progress reported by wireless companies, getting enhanced 911 service to every emergency call center in the next few years still faces "enormous challenges," said John Melcher, president of the National Emergency Number Association.
"Technology is no longer the issue," he said. "It's really a matter of coordination and funding."
Melcher's group estimates it will cost more than $8 billion over the next five years to get E911 everywhere in the nation. He said many local emergency call centers can't afford upgrades to receive the new location information because many states have diverted E911 funds to deal with budget shortfalls.
The FCC meeting Tuesday was the first of a series intended to improve E911 coordination between the government, the wireless industry and public safety officials.
"We are all committed to bringing the benefits of E911 technology to as many Americans as possible as quickly as practical," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said.
The FCC has previously provided extensions to wireless carriers who said they could not meet the deadlines. The agency's commissioners say they will be more strict in enforcing the deadlines with penalties.
Charles McKee, an attorney with Sprint PCS, said that by July all newly activated phones from his company should have global positioning technology.
McKee and other industry officials urged the FCC to avoid imposing additional requirements while companies are trying to meet the existing deadlines.
"As we deploy in more and more markets we get better and better at it, but it is still a new technology," McKee said. "We're going to try our best to do everything as fast as we can, but please have patience."
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