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."
