APCO: Congress Should Codify FCC’s VoIP E-911 Mandate
Congress should “support and codify” the FCC’s requirement that interconnected VoIP providers offer 911 service by Nov. 28, a public safety group said in a letter to Hill leaders. The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) also praised the Commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure VoIP E-911 service availability nationwide by the Nov. deadline, in a separate letter to the FCC. APCO applauded VoIP industry efforts to implement 911, but said it was “very concerned” that many customers were still unable to reach the appropriate PSAPs.
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!
APCO stressed its support for the IP-Enabled Voice Communications & Public Safety Act of 2005 (HR-2418 and S- 1063), addressing VoIP services and E-911 capability. “We support such legislation to the extent that it codifies and expands upon the FCC’s order,” APCO told Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chmn. Inouye (D- Hawaii). But it said it would “strongly object to any legislation that has direct or indirect effect of postponing the FCC’s November deadline. Any such delay would continue to leave the public at risk that their 911 call, if made from a VoIP interconnected telephone, would not be delivered to the proper PSAP.”
The legislation expected to be marked up next week is still in the works, but VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger said the VoIP industry hopes it will contain “equivalent liability relief, direct access to 911 network, transition to IP-enabled network and recognition that rural Americans shouldn’t be left behind.” The FCC allows only one solution to provide VoIP 911 -- through a selective router -- Kohlenberger said, but “some flexibility in terms of how 911 is provided would be a very helpful thing.”
The APCO letters came as AT&T last week submitted its plan to the FCC on how to comply with the agency requirements for its VoIP service offerings. “We are particularly pleased that AT&T has agreed not to offer new VoIP services, and to block ‘nomadic’ service, in areas in which it does not have 911 capability,” APCO said in a letter to FCC Chmn. Martin. The AT&T plan also includes incentives for the company to expand 911 capabilities in all areas it has registered users. APCO applauded the AT&T’s move and urged other VoIP providers to take similar steps. “People are looking at a lot of creative ways to accelerate E-911 solutions and that’s what you've seen with the AT&T solution,” Kohlenberger said.
Significant progress will be made by Nov. 28 by the industry to offer 911, but availability of nationwide solutions by then is unlikely, Kohlenberger said. Nov. 28 will mark “faster deployment of E-911” by the VoIP industry than by any other phone service providers, and “fewer customers without E-911 than any other phone service, better informed users than any other phone service. But there won’t be any nationwide E-911 solution just like every other phone service,” Kohlenberger said. He said he expected 2/3 of Americans would be covered by E-911 solutions by Nov. 28, “but the folks that likely won’t have E-911 will be those who live in rural America. We need to make sure that rural America isn’t left behind in this transition.”