The location of each caller who dials 911 from a cellphone within Canada must be available to emergency responders by this time next year, the CRTC says.

Canadian wireless service providers are being required to upgrade their 911 services by Feb. 1, 2010, to make that possible, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) confirmed Monday in a news release.

“The safety and security of Canadians will be greatly improved as a result,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the commission, in a statement.

A number of people have died after making 911 calls from cellphones because emergency dispatchers could not tell where the person was. Sharmarke Warsame died outside Brooks, Alta., last fall after calling 911. He had been beaten and left in a field. Police found his body three days after the call was made.

Currently, 911 services show the position of the cellphone tower nearest the caller, but not their specific area or location. The wireless industry has proposed that Global Positioning System and triangulation technology be used to provide emergency responders with the caller's location within a radius of 10 to 300 metres, the CRTC said.

Wireless providers may enable the 911 features before the deadline and the CRTC is encouraging them to do so.

The service providers will be required to inform their customers about the availability, characteristics and limitations of their upgraded 911 features.

Len Katz, the CRTC's vice-chairman, telecommunications, had revealed in January that the February 2010 deadline for enhanced 911 services was coming.

According to the CRTC, there are 20 million wireless subscribers in Canada, and many 911 calls are made from cell phones.

The CRTC can require providers to make safety services available, but does not regulate cellphone rates.

Cellphone companies can charge a 911 fee, even in areas where there is no such service provided. The big three cellphone companies — Bell, Telus and Rogers — as well as local providers are facing class-action lawsuits over the 911 charge. The lawsuits claim the companies misrepresented to customers what the charge was for.