FCC Rules on VoIP Providers Not Compliant with e911 Nov. 28 Deadline

By ROBERT LIU

TMCnet Wireless and Technology Columnist

Federal regulators have granted voice over IP (VoIP) service providers the permission to remain in operation even if they are not in full compliance with enhanced 911 (e911) requirements by the November 28 deadline.

Earlier this summer, the agency ruled that VoIP service providers must provide access to public safety answering points (PSAP) – a network of nearly 6,200 offices that not only dispatch emergency services but can help identify the location of the caller. The FCC set November 28 as the deadline for all VoIP providers to be in full compliance.

But in a memo issued late Monday, the Federal Communications Commission outlined that VoIP providers won’t have to discontinue interconnected service to any existing customers. As a caveat, though, service providers won’t be allowed to register new customers until they have complied with the FCC’s June 3 order.

“Although we do not require providers that have not achieved full 911 compliance by November 28, 2005, to discontinue the provision of interconnected VoIP service to any existing customers, we do expect that such providers will discontinue marketing VoIP service, and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the Commission’s rules,” the FCC said in a letter outlining compliance requirements.

Prior to Monday’s letter, the FCC had already backed off a July 29 deadline for VoIP providers to shut down service to customers who haven’t acknowledged any e911 limitations. But it also comes in the wake of legal actions taken by Nuvio and other VoIP providers. The company first petitioned the FCC to stay e911 enforcement pending the implementation of a nationwide solution and then later filed a similar motion in a federal court. That, in turn, led lawmakers to introduce a bill in the Senate Commerce Committee that would push back 911 deadlines for up to four years.

But the issue of compliance is particularly thorny for service providers. While the nation’s top providers like Vonage and Packet 8 have implemented solutions, none have found a way to deal with mobile customers – that is, customers that use various locations and interconnection points. The only way to deal with mobility is using a method known within the industry as “self-provisioning” – that is self-declaration of your location.

“There is no technology currently available that does that,” Scott Fincher, spokesman at solutions provider Intrado, told TMCnet.

To stay on top of the latest developments, be sure to visit TMCnet’s special report on the issue of enhanced 911 service. Our special report can be accessed at:
http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/special-reports/voip-911.aspx

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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at TMCnet. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.

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