Hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Scientce & Transportation on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and the Future of 9-1-1 Services

Statement

Hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Scientce & Transportation on
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and the Future of 9-1-1 Services

Statement of Ted Stevens

I would like to thank Chairman Inouye for calling this afternoon's hearing. 911 calls serve as the first point of communications between the public and our nation's responders and is critical to our nations safety and security.

As a co-chair of the 911 caucus, I hope that we will be able to move forward with this legislation to address the outstanding issues related to 911. I also look forward to hearing from the witnesses about how we can improve our 911 service throughout the country, including Alaska.

As example of 911 use in my state is of two snowmobiles who were going across the snow filled area south of Mt. McKinley and they were sort of racing and shouting to one another when all of a sudden one of them hit a crevasse and disappeared. The other one raced up to the edge of the crevasse and looked down and there is the first snowmobiler with the skis of his machine stuck in the snow and he is standing on the seat of his machine trying to figure out how he is going to climb the seventy feet up to the top of the crevasse. He couldn't figure out what to do and then he remembered that he has his cell phone in his pocket. He dialed 911 and luckily there was a satellite going over and it was picked up and 25 minutes later the National Guard pulled him out. Now that's what 911 means to my part of the country and E911 will mean even more.

Upgrades to the 911 network are critical, but we will fail if rural America is left behind.

The Senate already secured $43.5 million for grants to improve our country's 911 capability in the 9/11 Commission Bill. Ensuring that 911 capability exists for all voice services, including wireline, wireless and internet protocol, is the next critical step.

It is also critical that the technology work properly. I was concerned to hear recent reports that have indicated that the location accuracy can vary greatly throughout the country. It is important that we continue to improve this capability.

The FCC, under Chairman Martin's leadership, has done an outstanding job regarding 911. But issues of liability protection and ensuring that everyone has the same access to 911 components, including the disabled community, are issues that require further attention of Congress.

I am pleased to see that under Senator Inouye's leadership, public safety communications ad 911 will continue to be a central focus of this committee's communications agenda.

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