News

As Canada prepares to revamp its outdated 911 emergency system, there is a push to place Vancouver at the front of the line to avoid potential embarrassments during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The federal telecom regulator is expected to announce plans for the 911 upgrade next month to let dispatchers locate cellphone calls during a crisis – an ability Canada lacks but other countries have had for years.

Ottawa revealed last week it will require cellphone companies to start updating their networks by February of 2010. It is possible regulators may allow a gradual rollout across the country, given the scope of the upgrade required.

Vancouver is expected to be a 911 “hot spot” during the Olympics and many callers visiting the city may be unfamiliar with their surroundings.

“There is going to be a high density of cellphones and a lot of potential for something to go wrong,” said Ray Vilis, vice-president of SolaCom Inc., one of several Canadian firms that have helped update 911 systems in the United States.

“It would be a shame to have something stupid like a mismanaged 911 call be the cause of embarrassment. Or worse, there is a fatality as a consequence.”

Lacking such technology has caused problems for dispatchers in cases where the caller can't speak or is lost.

The federal decision to set a deadline for updating the system comes after a Globe and Mail investigation revealed that outdated 911 technology may have contributed to at least four deaths or near-deaths in the past year.

Though the U.S. and parts of Europe and Asia have spent years upgrading technology, Canada has been stalled by debate with the telecom sector over who should pay for the new technology, which some estimates say starts at about $50-million.

The wireless industry wants public funds used, while the emergency dispatch centres, which are funded by municipalities, say cellphone companies should be forced to dip into the 911 fees they collect on consumers' bills.

The companies collect at least $157-million a year from 911 fees, according to estimates, and Industry Canada documents indicate not all the money is used to cover 911 costs. Leftover funds are recorded as surplus revenue by the phone companies.

In Canada, more than half of 911 calls now come from cellphones, and Vancouver is expecting a surge in callers during the Olympics.

Angela Wilson, spokeswoman for E-Comm, which covers Vancouver, Whistler and nearby areas, said wireless calls from international visitors will present challenges without the upgrades.

“We anticipate an increase in tourists from the United States and other areas that have [the newer 911 systems]. So our concern is that they expect it, but we may not have it,” she said. “They'll obviously have more difficulty describing their location if they're calling from a cellphone.”

Such upgrades would tell dispatchers whether a cellphone caller was on the road to Whistler, for example, instead of in downtown Vancouver, cutting response times considerably.

“The last thing I want is for someone [in the U.S.] to say American tourists are not safe in Canada because the 911 is not equivalent,” SolaCom's Mr. Vilis said.

After the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ordered the upgrade last week, the industry group representing cellphone companies said the costs could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. However, those figures exceed previous estimates given by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.

Those numbers are now being challenged by the 911 community, which says the phone industry is trying to inflate the cost estimates to make the project seem more onerous for the cellphone companies.

Another figure to emerge this week suggests the technology could be installed for $70-million, also much lower than the industry suggests.

In addition to the industry's own costs, the wireless association is including costs the municipalities must cover themselves to upgrade dispatch centres, said Judy Broomfield, head of Toronto's 911 dispatch centre.

“I don't know why the industry is including that number in their estimates. They don't touch our costs with a 10-foot pole,” she said.