The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is giving VoIP service providers more time to comply with an order requiring that all subscribers acknowledge potential limitations of the E911 services.Enforcement of the mandate, which was to begin this week, has been pushed back to Sept. 28 by regulators.
To be eligible for the extension, service providers must have filed a report on or before Aug. 10 regarding progress in obtaining confirmation from their customers.
Safety Measure
On June 3, the FCC ordered VoIP carriers to provide E911 capabilities to their subscribers within 120 days and further required those carriers to notify customers of the circumstances under which E911 service might not be available through the interconnected VoIP service or might be limited in comparison to traditional 911 services.
Last month, that deadline was extended until Aug. 30, at which point the FCC was planning to disconnect all subscribers who had not acknowledged notification from their respective VoIP providers.
According to the order, VoIP carriers must, by default, deliver all 911 calls to the customer’s local emergency operator. Interconnected VoIP providers also must provide emergency operators with the callback numbers and location information of their customers.
The ruling is a response to the rapidly expanding VoIP customer base and directly impacts providers such as Vonage and EarthLink, as well as cable companies offering telephony services. The ruling also reflects the FCC’s earlier decision to take regulatory control of Internet-based calling rather than grant that control to states.
Operators Comply
Most providers, in anticipation of the decision, have been adding E911 capabilities to their systems. The mandate could spell trouble, though, for smaller operations that do not have the resources to add emergency services capabilities.
Vonage is providing wireless and wireline E911 services through an agreement with SBC and BellSouth. And Verizon said it will provide E911 calling systems to VoIP service providers and vendors, enabling them to connect their customers’ emergency calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).
Some see the FCC deadline as an overreaction and suggest that the government is attempting to gain control over a new technology. “Threatening to cut off service to customers is an unreasonable demand, especially since we are still in phase one of E911 with wireless systems,” said IDC analyst Will Stofega.
Barrier to Entry
While a vast majority of customers understand that VoIP is different from traditional phone service, he said, it takes time and money to notify each subscriber of the possible limitations of Internet-based calling.
Stofega suggested that the FCC was irked by the lax approach toward implementing E911 services by some providers. Still, he questioned whether 100 percent compliance was a realistic goal.
“This primarily applies to smaller operators, providing a barrier of entry into the market, which may not be a bad thing,” the analyst said. “More companies are entering the market every day, with various levels of competence, and some weeding out could be necessary.”
