WASHINGTON-After hearing emotional presentations from users who were unable to successfully connect to 911 from Voice over Internet Protocol phones, the Federal Communications Commission last week adopted rules requiring VoIP providers to offer direct access to 911 services within about 165 days.
“VoIP providers must deliver all 911 calls to the customers’ local emergency operator. This must be a standard, rather than optional feature, of the service,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
While incumbent local exchange carriers are required to offer access to the 911 network to other telecommunications carriers, ILECs are not required to offer access to VoIP providers that consider themselves to be information services. Therefore, these VoIP providers must find their own way into compliance.
“The FCC chose to regulate the previously unregulated and declined to regulate those that it has obvious authority to regulate-the traditional telecom carriers. As it stands, unaffiliated VoIP providers are left to the mercy or goodwill of their retail rivals,” said Jeff Pulver, chief executive officer of pulver.com.
The FCC said its rules were flexible enough to allow VoIP providers to decide how to comply.
“VoIP providers may interconnect directly with the ILECs’ 911 network or purchase access to this network from competitive carriers or third-party providers,” said Martin, noting he was encouraged that Bell operating companies have begun offering access to 911 to VoIP carriers.
Indeed as the FCC was adopting the rules, the largest independent VoIP provider, Vonage Holdings Corp., said it had reached deals with SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.
Vonage said the deals, 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 regional BOC territories before the end of the year. It previously reached an agreement with Verizon Communications Inc.
“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.”
While access to the territories of three of the four largest wireline networks will certainly help Vonage certify that it has met the FCC’s mandate, which VoIP operators must do within 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, it must still make agreements with all of the other telephone companies or with third parties that agree to negotiate with them.
“It is going to be an enormous challenge to negotiate the necessary arrangements to have coverage throughout the country,” said Carol Mattey, director of the technology, media and telecommunications group for Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. “The BOCs may service 93 percent of the access lines, but that means you still have 7 percent of the access lines that are served by 1,000 phone companies. They are going to have to enter into arrangements with those 1,000 companies or with a competitive local exchange carrier that will drop that traffic off.”
Even as many saw the FCC’s timetable for VoIP compliance as aggressive, one of the victims that testified said 120 days was too long.
“While 120 days is certainly a reasonable time period to compel compliance … 120 days is seven days longer than my daughter lived. She died at 113 days because I could not reach 911,” said Cheryl Waller of Florida.
Current VoIP customers are to be warned about 911 service limitations, said FCC Commission Kathleen Abernathy. “Just as important, it will safeguard consumers in the interim prior to full implementation by requiring all VoIP providers to affirmatively warn consumers of current limitations in E911 capability,” said Abernathy.
Separately on Capitol Hill, legislation was introduced last week to fill in what some see as gaps in the FCC’s VoIP 911 rules.
