EDISON, N.J.-VoIP carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. said it has agreed to purchase access to elements of the wireless and wireline enhanced 911 network to offer E911 service to its customers from SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.
Vonage said the deal, which followed months of negotiations, will allow it to deliver both a caller’s location and call-back number to emergency services personnel for 911 calls placed throughout three of the four major RBOC territories before the end of the year.
“SBC and BellSouth have really come a long way over just a few short weeks-we now have a good faith agreement to get this done in the marketplace so all of our customers can get E911, regardless of what number they’re calling from and where,” said Jeffrey Citron, chief executive officer of Vonage. “As good corporate citizens and stewards of the E911 public trust, SBC and BellSouth have agreed to implement an E911 solution that will serve all customers including those who are mobile and those users on non-local phone numbers.”
Citron added that the unbundled wireless E911 elements will allow VoIP providers to implement NENA’s new I2 standard instead of being restricted to a CLEC for call delivery.
