Appeals Court Upholds E-911 Deadline for VoIP Providers
The FCC didn’t err in setting a 120-day deadline for VoIP providers to offer E-911 capability, the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., said Fri. “We conclude that the Commission adequately considered not only the technical and economic feasibility of the deadline… but also the public safety objectives the Commission is required to achieve,” wrote Judge Thomas Griffith in an order denying VoIP provider appeals.
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Judge Brett Kavanaugh concurred, filing an even stronger endorsement for the FCC timeframe. Kavanaugh said the E-911 requirement would be justified “even if VoIP providers could not feasibly meet the 120-day deadline” because the law gives the FCC authority to ban providers from selling voice service until they can ensure adequate 911 connections. In a footnote, Griffith and Judge Douglas Ginsburg said they found no language in the FCC order indicating the agency based its action on the law as Kavanaugh read it.
VoIP providers Nuvio, Lightyear Network Solutions, Primus Telecom, Lingo and i2 Telecom had asked the court to review the July 2005 FCC order. The companies said that in setting the 120-day deadline, which they found too brief, the FCC didn’t consider “economic and technological obstacles.” They also complained that the Commission required VoIP providers to connect to the wireline E-911 network but didn’t give wireline carriers a duty to permit this connection. And they questioned agency notice and comment procedures.
The court found those arguments “wanting.” The deadline issue, in particular, “fails in the face of substantial contrary record evidence,” Griffith wrote. Vonage, the largest interconnected VoIP provider, “had already procured a technical solution to meet the deadline,” said Griffith, and Intrado “was already prepared to offer a technological solution to meet the order’s requirements.” The FCC “also relied on IVP [interconnected VoIP provider] trials that demonstrated E911 access was possible for providers of nomadic, non-native VoIP service,” the court said.
Against the tight deadline, VoIP providers have made “incredible progress” in adding E-911 capability to their services, said VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger. VoIP providers now cover more PSAPs and have a smaller percentage of subscribers without E-911 capability than any other type of phone service, he said.