VoIP Providers Question FCC Guidance on E-911 Rollout

The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s notice late Mon. clarified a VoIP order (CD May 20 p1) that said all customers must be provided E-911 service by Nov. 28. The May order had led many to think VoIP customers that couldn’t receive E-911 capability by Nov. 28 would have to be dropped. Buried toward the end of a 6-page notice, the FCC said: “Although we do not require providers that have not achieved full 911 compliance by [Nov. 28] to discontinue the provision of interconnected VoIP service to any existing customers, we do expect that such providers will discontinue marketing VoIP service, and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the Commission’s rules.”

The FCC is basically asking providers to stop marketing at all because it’s hard to market only to E-911 compliant customers, especially over the Internet, said Vonage Govt. Affairs Dir. Chris Murray. E-911 compliance is on a PSAP-by-PSAP basis, he said, making any marketing difficult. Vonage is concerned the FCC order will slow down deployment by giving incumbent telephone companies that control access to 911 networks a financial incentive to delay Vonage’s access, Murray said.

“While the decision not to compel service shut-offs is an important move in the right direction by the FCC, I am not aware of any other instance in which the FCC has prevented a new technology from being marketed where it does not have a full E-911 solution,” said Pulver.com founder Jeff Pulver in a blog. Wireless, wireline and satellite services are marketed in areas where there isn’t full E-911 capability, he said. “I am baffled as to why the FCC has felt compelled to single out the nascent IP- based communications industry as subject to more onerous regulation.”

“On the one hand, we're delighted the FCC acted to assure consumers won’t be shut off” from VoIP technology, said VON Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger. “At the same time, we are scratching our heads on the requirement involving new subscribers which as far as we can tell is unprecedented,” he said. No other technology has been impeded from providing service while E-911 capability is rolled out, he said. VoIP is a technology used for emergency purposes, such as after Hurricane Katrina, when other technologies can’t operate, he said. Limiting its use doesn’t make sense, Kohlenberger said.

The Commission notice said VoIP providers must file compliance letters by Nov. 28 outlining their efforts to provide E-911 capability. The letters must state the percentage of subscribers receiving E-911 and describe the technical solution used to provide the service. VoIP providers have to “describe in detail, either in narrative form or by map, the areas of the country, on a MSA basis, where it is in full compliance and those in which it is not,” the FCC notice said.

FCC Urges Court to Deny Stays

The FCC late Tues. told a federal court the Commission’s public notice eases the urgency for granting petitions by Nuvio and others to stay the VoIP E-911 order. “Petitioners substantially overstate the near-term impact of the agency’s order on their business operations,” the FCC said in an opposition filed at the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. “As the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has announced in a recent public notice, VoIP providers that fail to comply with the challenged rules by [Nov. 28] will not be required to discontinue service to existing customers.” The FCC filing also disagreed with VoIP providers’ claims that the E-911 requirements lack precedent. “There is no merit to petitioners’ contention that the order diverged… from past FCC policy concerning 911 implementation,” the FCC said: “For one thing, CMRS providers have been required to provide access to basic 911 service since 1997 whereas [VoIP providers] even now are not providing basic 911.” In addition, “network components” developed to make wireless E-911 possible also can be used for VoIP E-911, the FCC said.