A Perfect Storm

Government Pressure

Starting with the FCC’s Enhanced 911 (E-911) initiative in the U.S. in 1999, government entities worldwide have begun mandating that cellular carriers deliver consumers’ precise location to emergency personnel on demand. (The EU’s version of this is E112 and Japan’s is E110.) Although originally many carriers moved to comply by using triangulated locations derived from cell towers, today the preferred compliance method is GPS, partly because carriers can now see that they can adhere to regulations while also introducing value-add location-based services – such as navigation and location-based Yellow Pages – in one fell swoop. For more information on government E911 initiatives and carriers’ adoption of location-based services, visit CTIA, The Wireless Association, at www.ctia.org.