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June 11 2003 Nokia has agreed to pay a US$60,000 "fine" for selling handsets that do not comply with US legislation regarding the ability to make emergency calls. The company has also agreed, in a settlement with the USA's telecoms regulator, the FCC to ensure that all future handsets fully comply with the emergency calling legislation, and to retrain those staff involved with the original error. Under Section 22.921 of the Commission’s Rules, mobile phones manufactured after February 13, 2000, and capable of operating in an analog mode, are required to use one or more of the 911 call system selection processes endorsed or approved by the Commission. On October 27, 1999, Nokia filed a request for approval of an alternative 911 call processing method for its multi-mode phones. On January 28, 2000, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau approved Nokia’s 911 call processing method. Under the approved Nokia method, the handset first attempts to complete the 911 call on the “presently acquired system,” the system the handset is currently using for non-emergency calls, whether this system is analog or digital. If the access attempts on that system are not successful, the handset will attempt to complete the 911 call on another network. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau conditioned its approval of Nokia’s method on the requirement that handsets employing this method attempt to complete the 911 call using an alternative system if the initial access attempts are not successfully completed by the “presently acquired system” within 17 seconds. On or about December 7, 2002, Nokia discovered that there was a possibility that in certain circumstances one of its phones manufactured using the 911 call processing method approved in the Nokia Order, its Model 6385 multi-mode handset, may not always meet the 17 second requirement. In December 2002, Nokia contacted the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau staff to disclose the potential 911 call processing problem. On January 13, 2003, Nokia met with Commission staff to provide details of the situation. Nokia stated that on December 9, 2002, it stopped all shipments of Model 6385 in the United States, quarantined all units in the distribution channel, and notified all distributors and carrier customers of its 911 dialing process concern. Nokia further stated that at that time there were fewer than 15,000 Model 6385 handsets in the hands of end users. Nokia also outlined remedial steps that it had begun implementing, including development of revised software that would ensure that its Model 6385 handsets comply with the 17 second requirement, installing such software in all Model 6385 handsets in the U.S. distribution chain, and providing notification to end users of Model 6385 handsets that such revised software is available at no cost to the user. The Enforcement Bureau subsequently began an investigation into whether Nokia was in compliance with the requirements of Section 22.921 with respect to its Model 6385 handset. Following the investigation by the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, Nokia is now required to include in its internal handset testing procedure a test specification to ensure that analog capable handsets which employ the 911 call processing method approved in the Nokia Order and are manufactured for sale in the U.S. will meet the 17 second requirement. Nokia has also agreed to retrain certain critical organizations in the Company, including those groups responsible for software development for multi-mode handsets being developed for sale in the U.S., on the 17 second requirement and the Commission regulations related to emergency call processing, including assuring alignment of specifications and regulatory requirements at early stages of new product development.
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