NENA Statement on NEAD Decommissioning

On Feb.14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was publicly notified by the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) administrator, NEAD LLC, that the NEAD had been fully decommissioned and would not be made available to the public safety community. NEAD was originally envisioned in the Roadmap for Improving E911 Location Accuracy, which was agreed upon by the four major wireless carriers, NENA, and APCO in 2014. Unfortunately, as reported to the FCC in 2019, the NEAD program ran into a host of logistical issues in the provisioning of database information and under performed in testing, indicating that the program was not sustainable and would not service public safety’s needs.

While supportive of the NEAD’s objectives, NENA was skeptical of the NEAD approach from the beginning and accordingly insisted on the inclusion of several other guarantees in the 2014 road map. Despite our skepticism, we are disappointed that the NEAD approach has proven unsuccessful. Civic address — and indeed, the "door to knock on" — remain a crucial long-term goal for 9-1-1, but we cannot shortcut the path to accurate, sustainable, and actionable location information. NENA is committed to ensuring public safety is provided with the best possible 9-1-1 location information and will remain vigilant in overseeing industry progress toward this goal. We thank those who strove to make the NEAD a success.

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