Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cingular Switches E911 Strategy To U-TDOA

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 13:27:52 -0500

Cingular Switches E911 Strategy To U-TDOA
BY MARK ROCKWELL
DECEMBER 16, 2002

WASHINGTON--The FCC's rejection of Cingular Wireless' request for more time to
install E-OTD E911 location technology has pushed the carrier to switch gears in
favor of the rival Uplink Time Difference of Arrival Technology.Cingular has told
the FCC that after completing field trials involving

TruePosition's network-based U-TDOA technology, it was moving away from
E-OTD, a platform that has resulted in E911 delays - and financial penalties - for
several carriers. The company also told the FCC it would file yet another request
to implement U-TDOA.

The FCC forwarded Cingular's filing to the commission's Enforcement Bureau,
which is where the carrier probably will make its additional request for U-TDOA.
The bureau might hammer out another set of implementation deadlines for the
U-TDOA technology, possibly with some fines for the delay, according to industry
lawyers familiar with the filing.

Cingular in October suspended shipments of E-OTD gear and began testing
TruePosition's network-based solution. Also this fall, AT&T Wireless agreed to pay
$2 million in fines for failing to meet the government's

Phase II E911 requirements and said it would deploy a TDOA network-based
solution in order to expedite availability of E911-compliant service. The carrier
also is continuing trials of E-OTD handset-based solutions.

A spokesperson for the Enforcement Bureau had no comment on the matter.
Cingular points to its successful U-TDOA trial as a solid reason for switching
horses.

The trial, which took place in Oct. 23-24 Wilmington, Del., included 17 test sites,
covering about 20 square miles of suburban territory. About 1,500 test calls were
made from all kinds of locations, from moving vehicles to 125 separate stationary
locations, according to Cingular's FCC filing.

Of those calls, 67 percent were located to within 47.1 meters and 95 percent to
within 112.2 meters-well in line with the FCC's limits for network-based location
technology, said Cingular.

'Based on these successful results, Cingular has decided to deploy U-TDOA as its
Phase II solution, rather than E-OTD,' the carrier said in its filing

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