Bell wary of New Brunswick’s proposed NG911 system

BCE Inc. has filed an intervention with the CRTC saying New Brunswick’s plan for how it would like to adapt its next-generation 911 (NG911) services may not be the best approach. According to Bell’s intervention, the province’s proposal is a “fundamental change” to the NG911 framework set by the CRTC -- though technically feasible -- “which is being introduced at such a late hour that it threatens to undermine the launch date.” “Further, the proposal contemplates a solution that is problematic and has been rejected by the commission because the commission decided that the NG911 provider should have complete control of the NG911,” Bell said. Its intervention was made public by the CRTC following others submitted by groups including the New Brunswick RCMP. The company said the province’s proposal amounts to a request to review and vary the current NG911 framework, “but there has been no attempt to demonstrate that there is substantial doubt as to the correctness of the original decision.” New Brunswick’s NG911 bureau, as part of its Department of Justice and Public Safety, first filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC requesting clarification on whether or not independent local exchange carriers (ILECs) delivering NG911 services in New Brunswick may connect those networks to demarcation points determined by relevant 911 Governing Authorities that may not be located at Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). Bell, as the service provider, intends to implement Emergency Services IP-Enabled Networks (ESInets) at two data centres that are not located at existing PSAPs. “However, the province recognizes that Bell Canada interprets the policy… as only permitting Bell to deliver ESInet traffic to existing PSAPs. It is therefore critical that the commission issue a clarification as soon as possible,” the province said in its application last month. New Brunswick recently approved a strategic framework that will centralize and host technology to support PSAPs, however, Bell said the proposal would result in a 911 call being delivered over private networks that are not part of the ESInet. “Introduction of such third parties between the NG911 core network and the PSAP will result in additional risks and complexities, as well as potentially lengthening discovery and recovery times in the event of an outage.” Bell instead returned to a system it has previously proposed in which a call handling solution can be hosted at either a data centre approved by the NG911 provider or at an existing PSAP site, with connectivity between the data centre and PSAP across ESInet only carrying 911 specific media and data. This would allow the 911 authority to choose a call handling solution that meets its needs while minimizing external parties which could cause an outage, according to Bell. It will also maintain ILEC oversight of the physical network between the NG911 core and the PSAP, and is more consistent with the CRTC’s directions. “As an NG911 provider, we can only monitor our own network. By introducing parties between the NG911 core and the PSAP, troubleshooting and recovery times would inevitably suffer,” Bell said. Bell also noted it believes there is an increased possibility for outages with the province’s proposed system as there is no backup or alternate means of routing NG911 traffic to PSAPs if the data centre experiences a failure. Motorola Solutions Canada Inc., which said in its own intervention it has been a leader in public safety information and communications technology for more than 90 years, supported the province’s request, saying it “can assure the commission that there are commercial solutions available today to meet the request.” “We believe that the solution behind the request represents both the logical next step and a stepping stone in the evolution of public safety communications from siloed ‘point solution’ approaches to a far more holistic ‘comprehensive workflow’ and ‘human centred experience’ approach that places the needs of all stakeholders involved at the centre of that experience, an evolution that will create better experiences and better outcomes for everyone,” the company said. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. (SaskTel) said in another intervention that NG911 implementation in its own province is set to take place in a way similar to the method New Brunswick is planning and that it fully supports the province’s request for clarification. – Reporting by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Bell wary of New Brunswick’s proposed NG911 system

News | July 14, 2021

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Bell wary of New Brunswick’s proposed NG911 system

News | July 14, 2021

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