Canadian regulators order 911 upgrades

TORONTO, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Phone companies in Canada have one year to upgrade the country's 911 service so it's easier to locate people calling from cell phones, officials said Monday.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission said improved location services will help get emergency workers within 350 yards of people in distress who call in on cell phones, the Financial Post reported.

"I am pleased that the industry has come forward with a technical solution, and that there is now nothing standing in the way of the implementation of enhanced 911 features," said Commission Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein. "The safety and security of Canadians will be greatly improved as a result."

Global Positioning System technology will be a key tool in tracking down Canadians who use their cell phones to alert authorities when they are in trouble in rural areas, experts said.

Canada's wireless said they have already started upgrading their networks to to accomplish the commission's directive.

"We have purchased a significant technology upgrade to enhance 911 services and are now testing this part network/part handset-based platform that will provide location information directly to Public Safety Answering Points," Rogers Communications Inc. spokeswoman Odette Coleman told the Financial Post in an e-mail.