FCC Urged to Halt Aug. 30 Customer Disconnect Requirement
An FCC mandate that VoIP providers disconnect customers who don’t acknowledge notices warning them of E- 911 limitations has ignited concern among providers and Congress. The VON Coalition in a letter Thurs. urged the FCC to reconsider the plan or at least extend the disconnection deadline. At the same time, key members of Congress plan to send a letter to the FCC today (Fri.) making a similar request. “This is the first time to our knowledge that the FCC has ordered basic service disconnected,” said an aide to Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.). Gordon and Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.), who have sponsored bills on E-911 access by VoIP services, are the main proponents of the letter to the FCC, which other lawmakers probably will sign as well.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Industry sources said privately they've heard the FCC might respond as soon as today by issuing a “clarification” on the disconnect requirement although one source said he’s also heard the agency may not act. One source said the FCC appears to be considering a mechanism for carriers to certify that they have made an all out effort to reach their customers to avoid having to terminate any subscribers next week. The Commission may require that VoIP providers continue to send notices to the small percentages who haven’t complied by the deadline.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued the disconnect requirement in a July 26 public notice giving VoIP providers guidance on how to comply with the subscriber notification requirements of the Commission’s E-911 VoIP order (CD May 20 p1). The FCC, in ordering VoIP providers to offer full E-911 capability, required they tell current subscribers they don’t have full E-911 capability and get customer acknowledgments that they understand the warnings. The bureau gave VoIP firms until Aug. 30 to get acknowledgments or disconnect customers.
VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger said VoIP providers have made “phenomenal” efforts to gain customer sign-offs on notification. They've used “e-mail, voice- mail, postal mail” and some have gotten responses from 80- 90% of customers, a rate most marketers would find unusually high, Kohlenberger said. The VON Coalition is urging the FCC to “err on the side of public safety” by easing the disconnect rule, he said. The Coalition urged in the letter that the FCC extend the deadline 90 days or decide VoIP providers don’t have to disconnect customers if they've sent notifications to all subscribers and continue to seek customer acknowledgments. “Otherwise terminating VoIP service to businesses and consumers would inevitably impede commerce and cause consumer inconvenience and could even leave VoIP customers stranded in an emergency,” the letter said.
The VON Coalition said in some cases customers who haven’t responded already have access to E-911: “It would be tragic if a customer who today may have E-911 as part of their VoIP service had it shut off and then attempted to use that service in an emergency.”
Aides to Sen. Nelson and Rep. Gordon said lawmakers fear the FCC edict could do more harm than good, perhaps imperiling consumers and making it hard for small businesses to operate. “We're very concerned about what might happen,” said Nelson’s legislative counsel Michael Sozan. In addition, it’s unfair to expect VoIP providers to get customer acknowledgments “in the height of August,” said Gordon aide Dana Lichtenberg. It’s unlikely providers ever would get 100% compliance, she said.
Fla. PSC Chmn. Braulio Baez sent a letter to the FCC Aug. 16 raising similar concerns and urging the Commission to “withdraw the July 26 notice or… voluntarily issue a stay of the provision on disconnection.” Baez said the disconnect policy “may lead to worse disruption and potential tragedies,” especially with the hurricane season approaching. “While there are likely instances where consumers may not be able to directly access emergency services through 911, at least they continue to have some telecommunications capability to contact emergency responders by means other than 911,” Baez said. “Disconnecting consumers removes even this option.”