The proposed SBC-AT&T and Verizon-MCI mergers may create competition problems if approved without modification, Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chmn. DeWine (R-O.) wrote in a letter Fri. to FCC Chmn. Martin and Acting Asst. Attorney Gen. Thomas Barnett. The letter, also signed by ranking member Kohl (D-Wis.), recommended 4 measures to ensure the market remains competitive: (1) The acquiring companies must sell unbundled DSL service to consumers without requiring purchase of traditional phone service. Bundling can offer consumer and competitive benefits, they said, but mandatory bundling seems likely to diminish competition. Qwest is already offering unbundled DSL and Verizon and SBC have taken steps in that direction. (2) The acquiring companies must commit to nondiscrimination on their networks -- “net neutrality.” This means they may not block or degrade the transmission of competitors’ data packets, in the backbone or the “last mile” connections to consumers’ homes. (3) The acquiring companies must provide full access to 911 and E-911 networks on nondiscriminatory terms. While this condition may require further technology investment, SBC and Verizon already are working toward this goal, they noted. (4) The acquiring companies must divest duplicative local loop facilities from AT&T and MCI, when appropriate. There is some dispute about whether such divestiture would disrupt service, the letter noted, but since it’s an important antitrust remedy for ensuring competition, the issue needs to be explored. The letter chided the FCC for letting languish several critical telecom regulatory issues involved in the mergers: Intercarrier compensation, the regulatory framework for wireline Internet broadband access, pricing of unbundled network elements and pricing for special access services. “The entire industry is suffering due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by these delays,” the letter said. It would be preferable to formulate broader policy regarding mergers instead of imposing conditions on specific companies, the letter said, but this situation requires action because of the size of the deals. “Sometimes merging parties, when their actions fundamentally reshape a market, must accept restraints that are not immediately shared by the rest of the industry,” it said.

About 35% of VoIP providers don’t offer E-911 services, according to a survey by VoIPReview.org released Thurs. Most that didn’t were “smaller VoIP-only companies,” said a report. The survey also found that 65% of companies offer 911, and 45% offer what are known as basic 911 services.

The International Assn. of Fire Chiefs, National Assn. of Counties and National League of Cities backed APCO’s petition seeking an FCC ruling under which the specified level of accuracy for locating wireless 911 calls is required at the local level, rather than averaged over entire states. “We share APCO International’s concern that too large of a measurement area will leave some public safety answering points (PSAPs) with very poor levels of accuracy, making it difficult for first responders to locate emergencies in a timely manner,” the groups told the FCC. They said wireless 911 accuracy should be required at the community level, because “Phase II E911 services are requested, deployed and utilized at the local level, contracts between wireless carriers and PSAPs are initiated at the local level and responses to calls begin at the local level.” The groups urged the FCC to provide “clear guidance regarding the relevant geographic area in which wireless carriers must provide and test E911 accuracy to the levels specified in the FCC’s rules.” The issue has spurred a huge fight between those in public safety and the industry, which has been advocating accuracy testing on a statewide bases. The 49- member Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NTIC) in March urged accuracy testing be conducted on a statewide basis, but APCO dissented. Sam Feder, then FCC Chmn. Martin’s aide, has said Martin has “some sympathy for APCO’s view that you need to look at this on a more granular basis.” He has urged the carriers to work with APCO on “a solution about how that can be done.”

Momentum continues to build in Congress to ensure that E-911 services are delivered to all VoIP users, speakers said Thurs. at an Information Technology Assn. of America VoIP briefing. Congress needs to ensure that the FCC has authority to resolve outstanding issues related to full deployment of emergency services, said Dana Lichtenberg, legislative asst. to Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.). A key concern is that VoIP providers get non- discriminatory access to the 911 infrastructure, she said.

Some 44,000 Qwest telephone customers in northeastern Ore. lost long distance access for 15 hours Mon. when gophers gnawed through an armored fiber cable near Pendleton, Ore. The damage affected customers in Baker, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa Counties. Service went out shortly after midnight and was restored around 3 p.m. Customers could make local and 911 calls, but couldn’t make toll calls because the gophers had taken out the primary cable linking the area to points beyond, and automatic rerouting to alternate lines failed to work. The cable loss also affected some Verizon customers in the region whose toll traffic normally transited Qwest’s network. Qwest said the cable’s armor was supposed to resist rodents; it’s investigating the failure, along with the failure of automatic rerouting.

House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) is heading a core group of 5 committee members focused on drafting telecom update legislation that will likely address video franchising, VoIP and E911 issues. Members include Ranking Committee Member Dingell (D-Mich.), House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.), Ranking Subcommittee Member Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.). Committee sources said 2- to 3-hour meetings are taking place daily as members and staff go over a variety of draft bills already before the committee and try to determine what should go in the legislation.

The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) approved the FCC’s E-911 rules for VoIP providers (CD May 20 p1), triggering a July 29 effective date. That means providers must comply with the order’s customer notification requirements by that date. OMB approval also triggers a Nov. 28 deadline for providers to offer full emergency calling capability. OMB approval was needed because the order triggered some information collection requirements. Meanwhile, Vonage told the FCC it has started informing new and existing customers of limitations in the company’s E-911 capability, as required by the Commission. In a July 8 letter, the company said it changed its customer subscription process to inform new customers that, although upgrades are underway, they don’t have access to fully enhanced 911 service. Existing customers are urged to visit their web accounts to read a similar notice about the E-911 limits. Both notices tell customers “Vonage is in the process of a nationwide rollout of Enhanced 911 service” but now offers only “a form of 911 that is similar to E-911 but has some important differences.” The notice says that among those differences is that calls go to a “general number” at the nearest emergency response center. “When the center receives your call, the call taker will not have your address and may not have your phone number on hand, thus you must provide that information in order to get help,” the notice explains. In some local emergency response centers, general numbers aren’t manned by live operators around the clock, the notice says: “If Vonage learns that this is the case, Vonage will send your call instead to a national emergency calling center and a trained agent will contact an emergency center near you to dispatch help.” Vonage said it began making the changes June 28 and plans to send customers additional material before the July 29 deadline for customer notification.

The FCC Mon. approved Alltel’s acquisition of Western Wireless, but imposed conditions aimed at ensuring the merger doesn’t stymie competition. The agency said Alltel will have to divest Western Wireless business units, including customers, infrastructure and cellular spectrum, in 16 markets. The Justice Dept. last week approved the merger conditional on divestiture of assets in the same 16 markets. The FCC also imposed a condition to assure adequate roaming.

Providers are scrambling to meet a Nov. 28 deadline by which interconnected VoIP providers must offer E-911 services, panelists said Thurs. at the VoIP E-911 Solution Summit in D.C. “Because only 33.6% of American counties have phase 2 wireless,” providers will need a lot of time and money to meet the deadline, said Rick Jones of the National Emergency Numbers Assn. (NENA). The FCC order said interconnected VoIP services must transmit all 911 calls with caller location and call-back number to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), “even if through a third party or CLEC.” Many VoIP providers said they consider the FCC’s decision “aggressive.”

CTIA and the Rural Cellular Assn. (RCA) asked the FCC for relief from the “Phase 2” deadline for wireless deployment of location-based E-911 technology. The FCC is requiring wireless carriers to make 95% of the handsets on their networks location-capable by Dec. 31.