Vonage’s DigitalVoice VoIP service is interstate so it can’t be regulated by state PUCs, the FCC ruled Tues. The ruling, which asserts federal jurisdiction over Vonage-like services, came in response to a preemption petition filed last year by Vonage. Although referring to Vonage service, the decision applies to other types of IP- enabled services, the Commission said.

Cal. voters defeated a ballot referendum that would have increased the 911 surcharge on wireless services by about 400%. Proposal 67 went down with 71.9% against and only 28.1% in favor. The proposal would have increased the 911 surcharge to 3.75% from 0.75%. The estimated $500 million in new revenue would have gone to pay hospitals for uncompensated emergency room care and make some improvements to the 911 system. Supporters said this would have been a relatively painless way to raise funds needed to keep hospital emergency rooms open in the face of increasing demand and declining revenue. They said they would seek relief from the state legislature. Wireless carriers said the measure’s defeat shows consumers are fed up with being used as a state revenue source.

ORLANDO - States should have a limited but important role to play with regard to VoIP market place, CLEC industry speakers said here. They said states should be involved in addressing social policy issues such as E-911 and maybe some others. “When we are looking at… the access piece of the VoIP puzzle, there is a significant role for state regulators to play in setting pricing and terms and conditions as they had done in the past for services delivered over legacy copper network,” said Covad Vp-Govt. & External Affairs Bill Weber.

Defining VoIP as an interstate service not subject to state fees or regulation could be bad news for public safety answering points (PSAPs), which count on 911 fees as part of their budgets, the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials warned Chmn. Powell. APCO said it has been advised that the FCC may take this step in its upcoming VoIP order but that the move would come even as many PSAPs have to change their systems to accommodate VoIP calls. “Excluding the growing number of VoIP users from 911 fees would allow them a ‘free ride’ and place an unfair burden on more traditional telephone service customers,” APCO said.

State regulators are weighing open access for both ISPs and BPL providers as they grapple with the regulatory issues for the broadband over power line (BPL) industry. That became evident at a NARUC BPL task force meeting Sun. in Washington, where state regulators sought views from the FCC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), industry officials and others on how they should balance spurring BPL deployment against handling issues specific to legacy electric infrastructure.

Several Ind. counties are asking their state lawmakers for legislation next year that would raise the cap on local 911 surcharges, citing sharp rate increases by Verizon for 911 service. The counties in Verizon’s service area say the telco is imposing increases of up to 400% when renewing 911 service contracts. Tippecanoe County, for instance, said its monthly 911 bill from Verizon rose from $5,000 to $20,000 in the new 3-year service contract with Verizon. The telco said that as contracts come up for renewal, there will be substantial 911 rate increases in every community where it is the 911 phone provider; it said the increases were prompted by audits that showed its charges weren’t covering service costs. Currently, Tippecanoe County imposes a 95 cent monthly charge on land lines and 65 cents per cellphone number. Under present state law, local 911 fees are capped at $1 for landlines, and cellphone fees at 65 cents. Even at the caps, some county officials said they would have to draw on reserves to cover their 911 bills, which would carry them only for a limited time. State Sen. Brandt Hershman (R) said he has heard from county officials in his district who want 911 fee caps raised, but he said this could be an opportunity to study how 911 in general is best funded. The only other option counties have is purchasing their own 911 routing equipment, but that would entail counties shouldering the capital and operating costs.

BOSTON - VoIP industry speakers warned the FCC here that E911 shouldn’t be required of VoIP, unlike wireless. “With the technology evolving so quickly, it would be a great mistake for federal and state regulators to impose an E911 mandate based on the network topologies and capabilities of yesterday,” said MCI Vp-Federal Law & Policy Richard Whitt. He said “the preferable approach is to allow the industry to work closely with NENA and other responsible organizations to devise feature-rich and innovative emergency service applications and networks.” Alcatel Senior Vp-Research & Innovation Jack Jachner agreed, saying it would be “helpful” of the FCC to emphasize the importance of VoIP E911 and let the industry find the technologies.

BOSTON -- State regulators had a mixed reaction to the FCC Wireline Bureau proposal on VoIP jurisdiction expected to be sent to the 8th floor this week (see separate story, this issue), with some questioning whether the proposal would get enough votes from the Commission in light of the upcoming presidential election. Though disagreeing on many issues, most state commissioners at the VON Conference agreed states should play a significant role at least on consumer protection.

More mobile satellite service (MSS) operators updated the FCC on their 911 call center preparations. The Commission ordered operators in Aug. to begin preparation for implementing their 911 call centers next Feb. The companies are required to file reports before and after implementation to inform the Commission of progress and any problems (CD Aug 26 p12). Iridium said it planned to hire a vendor for its emergency call center services. Callers dialing 911 would be routed to the call center where the operator would note the caller’s name, callback number, location and emergency before routing the caller to the nearest public safety answering point(PSAP). Iridium service providers would be notified of the availability of the call centers via written communications, e-mail and Iridium’s Internet-based extranet, Iridium said, and service providers will inform their customers. Stratos told the Commission that 911 calls will be routed to its existing 24-hour call center beginning in Feb. The company said call center employees will be able to differentiate between emergency calls and non-emergency calls by using a system that assigns a priority to each call. Stratos employees will use a PSAP database to determine which PSAP should answer the call, the company said, and a log will be made of the call. Stratos said it will post a notification of the service on its website Nov. 1 and will follow the post with mailings included in Nov., Dec. and Jan. invoices. Stratos said there is “limited availability of commercially available software that allows carriers to access nationwide PSAP contact information.” Also, the company said there have been problems “ensuring that updates to the information contained in this software is timely and accurate.” Meanwhile, Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) said its emergency call center was established in 1995 and there have been no significant problems.

VoIP provider Vonage said it’s now able to provide R.I. subscribers with E-911 location service, a step one FCC official said was “a terribly exciting development for public safety.” However, Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron said R.I. was a unique case, noting that both the regulatory and technical structure of the 911 system will make it challenging to provide E-911 to other districts. Because R.I. owns the selective router for 911 and has only one public safety answering point (PSAP) for the entire state, there were fewer complications to bring E-911 online, Citron said Thurs. Since most states have numerous PSAPs and most 911 selective routers are controlled by ILECs, achieving access to the 911 system is difficult. Citron said each state could change rules on accessing the 911 system, but having to appeal to each state would be tedious and could produce inconsistent results, Citron said. “We need a national plan,” said Citron, who said the FCC could establish the access rules that are needed. Vonage utilizes services from Intrado, a leading emergency communications provider, to help R.I. determine a caller’s location. The system relies on Vonage subscribers to supply home location information; the system doesn’t determine location based on where the VoIP call originated. Mary Boyd, Intrado vp-govt. affairs, said until a national policy is developed, each state would have to “step up one at a time.” Meanwhile, the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said it would host a “next generation E-911 forum” to further examine and develop E- 911 service. The forum will include “all 911 stakeholders” and will be held in Washington Nov. 17. The forum will include a technical roundtable, a policy roundtable and an operational/educational roundtable.