TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: FCC Gives More Time to VOIP Telcos to Get 911 Replies

FCC Gives More Time to VOIP Telcos to Get 911 Replies

Reuters News Wire (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:36:58 -0500

U.S. communications regulators on Friday gave Internet telephone
providers more time to get customers to acknowledge the limitations of
911 access with their subscriptions, likely reducing the chances that
some would have service cut off.

The Federal Communications Commission has been worried that not all
customers know that when they dial 911 with an Internet phone, the call
may not reach an emergency dispatcher or would not show the location
from where the call was made.

The agency ordered carriers to fix that by late November and also get an
affirmative reply from subscribers of the service -- known as Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VOIP) -- that they know the limitations.

The FCC said carriers should suspend service to those customers who
failed to reply by late July. That was later extended until August 29.

But Internet phone carriers urged the agency to put off that deadline
again amid fears it could cause more harm than good, leaving customers
with no phone service at all.

After noting that carriers made significant strides in obtaining
replies, the FCC's enforcement bureau decided to grant another
extension, until September 28, for those carriers that submit more
reports on progress and details on getting final replies.

"During this additional period of time, the bureau expects that all
interconnected VoIP providers that qualify for this extension will
continue to use all means available to them to obtain affirmative
acknowledgements from all of their subscribers," the FCC said.

But companies that still provide VOIP service to customers after the
deadline without obtaining the acknowledgements could be subject to
enforcement action by the FCC.

UBS analyst John Hodulik estimates there were about 2.5 million U.S.
VOIP customers at the end of the second quarter, meaning that even if
90 percent responded by the August deadline, 250,000 could lose
service.

"There are too many VOIP users who have cut their traditional phone
service or turning off VOIP service to be a valid solution," said Jeff
Kagan, an independent telecommunciations analyst.

The head of a coalition VOIP companies said the decision was
particularly helpful since some customers may have been on vacation
while others may have been confused or unaware they needed to
acknowledge the 911 limitations.

"It's a recognition that consumers could have been put in harms way if
their service was shut off because they inadvertently hadn't
acknowledged the limitations of the service," said Jim Kohlenberger,
executive director of the VON Coalition.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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