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Canada's cellphone companies have been given a year to upgrade the country's 911 system, and to install technology that can locate wireless 911 callers within as little as a few car lengths in some cases.

The technology, which may have been able to prevent several tragedies that resulted from outdated 911 equipment over the past year, must be in place by next February.

After signalling last month that it would set a deadline for the upgrade, the federal telecom regulator established specific performance requirements yesterday, requiring all cellphone 911 calls to be located within a radius of between 10 metres and 300 metres, depending on the circumstances.

Such technology is used widely in the United States, while dispatchers in Canada have struggled without it.

On Saturday, police in Manitoba searched for nearly three hours for two children stranded in a storm on Lake Winnipeg. The children dialled 911 after their father collapsed snowmobiling. Other callers have not been as fortunate.

In January, the body of 18-year-old Matt Armstrong was found in woods near Williams Lake, B.C., 10 hours after he called 911 for help.

A recent Globe and Mail investigation found that at least four deaths or near-fatalities in 2008 were linked to the inability to locate callers who were lost or could not speak.

“With more than 20 million wireless subscribers in Canada, it is imperative that emergency responders can quickly and accurately locate those who use their cellphones to call 911,” Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said in a statement yesterday.

In laying out its plan, the CRTC also said it does not think cellphone companies should hit consumers with higher bills to cover the costs.

Emergency dispatchers can, at present, determine only the location of the cell tower receiving the caller's signal, which leaves a massive search area. Although the CRTC has set broad accuracy requirements for the upgrade, the equipment is often more effective than those targets.

Bernard Lord, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said the industry will likely roll out the upgrade in stages across the country.

“It's going to be a big challenge. This is a big investment,” Mr. Lord said. “I don't think the public should expect that this will be rolled out everywhere in the country at the same time.”

Although the wireless industry said yesterday it is fully behind the upgrades, documents obtained through access to information laws show the process has been bogged down by years of infighting in Canada.

Disagreements between the cellphone industry and the municipalities that run emergency dispatch centres over who should pay for the revamp have delayed the process further. As recently as a few months ago, several members of the wireless industry were opposing the upgrades until the CRTC stepped in and set a deadline.

A group of industry representatives and emergency dispatch officials must submit a proposed schedule for the rollout by May 4. Emergency dispatchers will be able to access location information only when 911 is dialled. Police would require a warrant to use such information outside 911 calls.

Rogers Communications, one of Canada's largest wireless companies, expects to begin using location technology as early as this summer in some markets. Bell Canada refused to comment on whether the deadline set by the CRTC is reasonable, but said it would work with the CRTC and emergency officials.

The regulator said it believes the new technology is a “cost of doing business” for the phone companies, and can be absorbed within existing 911 fees charged on monthly bills. By doing so, the CRTC sent a message to the phone companies that Ottawa doesn't believe they will need to increase their existing 911 fees, which are between 50 cents and $1 a month, depending on the carrier.

The 911 fees have been controversial, because the wireless industry isn't required to disclose how the money is spent. Documents show Industry Canada has been advised that not all the funds go toward 911 service, and some of the $157-million collected each year is retained as surplus revenue.

The companies are required to use either GPS, triangulation, or a combination of both to locate 911 callers. Satellite-based GPS works better in rural areas, while triangulation, which tracks the distance and direction of the signal from the cellphone tower, is effective in urban areas.

Ken Englehart, head of regulatory affairs for Rogers, said it is likely most carriers will use a combined approach, since using only one method is not always reliable.