FCC Orders VoIP Providers to Upgrade 911 Service

The requirement applies only to VoIP providers who interconnect with the public switched telephone network (PSTN). That means P2P providers like Skype wouldn’t have to comply. The FCC said providers will have to deliver 911 calls directly to emergency operators, not to administrative numbers that might not be answered. VoIP companies also must transmit caller location and call-back data with 911 calls. And they must send material to customers, new and existing, explaining the service’s 911 capabilities and limitations. Among the required material will be labels consumers can put on their phones.

The FCC, acting at its open meeting, also reminded ILECs they have a “statutory obligation” to provide access to their E-911 networks, including selective routers, trunks and data bases needed for E-911 service. The agency said it would keep monitoring the situation to make sure such access isn’t withheld. The language was sought by Vonage, the largest VoIP provider, which has argued it needs access to ILEC facilities to provide improved E-911 service.

However, it wasn’t clear what sort of access the FCC envisioned. An FCC news release referred to an ILEC obligation to provide access to carriers, which Vonage is not. An industry official in the audience said that interpretation might encourage VoIP providers to hook up with CLECs, which are deemed carriers. FCC Comr. Abernathy told us later she sees the action as requiring ILECs to provide access to end users, which Vonage is. Chmn. Martin said the bottom line is: “Solutions are dependent on the cooperation of VoIP providers, incumbent LECs, third party vendors and the public safety community.” Such cooperation already is occurring in several major markets, he said.

The vote came after members of 3 families described frightening experiences in which, with relatives in mortal danger, they could not reach emergency dispatchers when dialing 911 on VoIP phones, instead getting recorded messages. In each case callers dialing 911 reached administrative telephone numbers rather than emergency centers. The families, along with public safety officers, testified at the meeting’s start. “God Bless You,” John Melcher, dir.-Greater Harris County (Tex.) 911 Network, told the FCC. “I bring you the gratitude [of public safety workers] for the courage to be proactive.”

All 3 families were using Vonage phones. Although the company’s contract makes a disclaimer about lack of full 911 capability, a mother whose 3-month-old baby died after she could not contact a 911 operator said the disclaimer is brief and buried in an 8,729-word contract. The mother, Cheryl Waller of Deltona, Fla., told the Commission: “I know the Commission doesn’t want to regulate the Internet, but this is about safety.” She urged the Commission to bar VoIP providers from advertising 911 availability until they develop ways to offer direct access to emergency services -- and to do it now, rather than wait 120 days: “120 days is 7 days longer than my daughter lived.”

Vonage Govt. Affairs Dir. Chris Murray, who attended the meeting, said afterward his company had sought this FCC action and would do its best to meet the requirements in the “ambitious” 120-day timetable. Asked if the action gives Vonage the access to ILEC infrastructure it wants, Murray said the company can’t know until it sees the FCC order, but until then it will “treat the obligation for access to infrastructure as real.” Asked if bad publicity from 911 snafus has hurt Vonage, he said the firm is focusing on deployment, not public relations. That’s the best way to serve customers, he said.

Legg Mason in a research note warned the FCC action might impose new costs on VoIP providers such as Vonage, “reducing their current regulatory advantage over the Bells/ILECs, although many details remain to be fleshed out.”

Vonage said Thurs. it already has moved to comply with the FCC order by signing agreements with SBC and BellSouth to buy E-911 services from them. The Bell service would enable Vonage to give emergency personnel caller location and call back number. Vonage already had an agreement with Verizon. CEO Jeffrey Citron said the 2 Bells “have really come a long way over just a few short weeks” in negotiating with Vonage on E-911 service. “We now have a good faith agreement to get this done in the marketplace so all of our customers can get E-911, regardless of what number they're calling from and where,” Citron said.

The order, the FCC’s first major action under Chmn. Martin, came in one of the fastest agency proceedings in recent time, as well as one of the trickiest, since it had to balance public safety with fostering new technology. Comr. Copps said the FCC had to rise above the debate about whether to regulate VoIP as a telecom or information service. The agency’s “first obligation is the safety of people and not the splitting of hairs” over regulatory distinctions, he said. During the meeting Copps and fellow Democrat Comr. Adelstein praised Martin for initiating the proceeding. Copps said Martin has a “genuine commitment” to solving the 911 problem. “It was an ambitious item,” but not doing it “was not an option,” said Copps. Adelstein said many have given “lip service” to fixing the 911 problem but Martin “took action and that’s what leadership is all about.”

The 120-day deadline begins when the order appears in the Federal Register, which could take a month or more. Asked what enforcement the FCC would bring to bear if VoIP firms don’t meet the 120-day deadline, acting FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Thomas Navin said the agency has forfeiture power and also can require companies to “cease and desist.” In addition, the agency will monitor whether ILECs are providing access to carriers and “intervene if necessary,” he said.

Navin said the VoIP order will include a further notice of proposed rulemaking with questions on issues not addressed Thurs., including whether companies such as Skype should have any obligations and if providers such as Vonage can develop a more “automatic” solution for determining 911 caller locations. Vonage customers now must register their addresses so emergency responders can find them. That’s not necessary for ILEC or wireless phones.

VoIP was the sole item on the FCC agenda Thurs. The agency at the last minute deleted a proposal for a wide- ranging inquiry into management and oversight of the Universal Service Fund. An FCC spokesman said the item wasn’t ready for a vote.

Order Gets Praise from Public Safety, Carrier Groups

The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) said lack of E-911 via VoIP providers can delay emergency responses and strain emergency workers’ resources. VoIP providers’ voluntary efforts have been welcome but “enforceable regulation is necessary to ensure that solutions are sufficient… and apply to all VoIP providers,” APCO said. The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), which has spearheaded an effort to develop a permanent E-911 process for mobile VoIP users, said the FCC action offers “a positive step toward greater cooperation.”

NARUC, representing state regulators, said the FCC took “the right action at the right time.” NARUC said “an effective E-911 mandate is literally an issue of life and death that public servants are duty bound to address.”

Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America research dir., said the FCC order will be effective only if the agency ensures incumbent telcos offer other companies access to facilities needed to send E-911 calls. “Requiring universal E-911 deployment in order to protect citizens’ lives, while leaving the door open for incumbents to raise consumer prices by blocking access by competitors would be robbing Peter to pay Paul… The Commission must remain vigilant against anti-competitive practices.”

CompTel/ALTS, which represents competitive carriers, said it particularly likes the FCC edict that competitive carriers have access to incumbents’ selective routers, 911 trunking and databases. It said it also is “encouraged by the Commission’s commitment to monitor and enforce this crucial obligation on ILECs.”

The Bells all issued statements supporting the FCC action but generally not discussing details of the access issue. BellSouth said it already has committed to offering access to its E-911 infrastructure for “VoIP providers needs for both fixed and nomadic solutions and is prepared to make these services available expeditiously.”

One of the few organizations to criticize the FCC order, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the order sets a bad precedent, in that “once a service begins to reach critical mass, it is ripe for burdensome regulations.” That view “ignores the reasons why such services are popular in the first place,” the group said. “Low cost and new features exist because the market, not government, was the driver of the new service.”

VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver slammed the decision, saying he fears if the order compels VoIP providers to offer “technologically impossible enhanced 911 obligations” within 120 days of its effective date, more Americans would be in harm’s way. He said the order could deny consumers access to useful VoIP services and, in the process, have “detrimental consequences” for the IP-based communications industry, especially smaller VoIP providers who “cannot feasibly provide a nationwide E-911 service” within the specified time frame. “A nationwide solution does not exist and will not exist in 120 days,” he said. Pulver’s VoIP service, Free World Dialup, won’t be affected by the order.

The Commission could have prohibited “port blocking” and pushed for direct access to the ILEC-controlled emergency response infrastructure, he said: “Instead, the FCC chose to regulate the previously unregulated, and declined to regulate those that it has obvious authority to regulate -- the traditional telecom carriers.” Pulver said unaffiliated VoIP providers are “left to the mercy or goodwill of their retail rivals.” He accused the Commission of caving in to a “shortsighted vision” and sacrificing the nation’s long-term emergency response capabilities, as well as America’s role as an Internet and innovation leader.

U.S. Internet Industry Assn. Pres. Dave McClure applauded the move, saying it levels the playing field for VoIP providers and makes sure customers are protected. While VoIP is an Internet-based service, carriers still must meet requirements and expectations for any telephone service, he told our affiliate Washington Internet Daily: “Just because they happen to be an IP-enabled service, doesn’t mean they get special treatment, especially with something as critical as emergency services.” He said if smaller VoIP companies can’t remain in business, so be it. “In a free market, not all companies can succeed,” McClure said: “We can’t put consumers at risk merely to ensure the survival of small companies.”

8x8 Chmn. Bryan Martin said that company “fully supports” the FCC requirements and thinks they will be “a positive development for the entire VoIP industry.” Martin said 8x8 was the first IP phone service to implement “true E-911 service” with support from NENA and using “VoIP building blocks provided by Level 3.” He said the service “automatically routes calls and computer-based ’screen pops’ with caller information to emergency personnel at local Public Safety Answering Points” (PSAPs).