Enhancing emergency access

Over the past year or so, there have been a number of CRTC decisions and industry announcements related to enhanced emergency access (E-911) from mobile devices. In addition, there was a recent decision related to enhancing relay calling services, leveraging internet and other communications technologies in order to bring TTY based message relay services ahead from its 30 year old technology. This followed last July’s policy statement on accessibility for broadcast and telecom services.

On Wednesday, the CRTC authorized the industry technical consultation group to investigate a mash-up of these two capabilities: Improving access to emergency services for people with hearing and speech disabilities.

With this solution, when a pre-registered person with a hearing or speech disability initiates contact with a PSAP by dialing 9-1-1 on a cellphone, that person’s contact and location information would automatically be transmitted in the same way it is for other cellphone users, but the 9-1-1 call would be flagged as coming from a person with a hearing or speech disability. Upon receiving a flagged 9-1-1 call, the 9-1-1 operator would respond by sending an SMS text message to the caller, thus enabling the caller to text back and forth with the operator.

There will be progress reporting back to the CRTC every six months, while CISC investigates the viability with wireless carriers, 9-1-1 service providers, and the public safety community.