The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) urged Sens. Sununu (R-N.H.) and Pickering (R-Miss.) to amend their VoIP bill to allow the FCC to adopt mandatory requirements that VoIP providers offer enhanced 911 to their customers. APCO said it agreed with the senators that VoIP technology could result in major improvements to telecom capabilities, including those of public safety agencies, but it’s “deeply concerned that, absent certain protections, the rapid deployment of VoIP service will have a serious, negative impact on the provision of [911] emergency communications across the nation.”

Canada’s telecom regulator said Wed. it sees little difference between traditional phone service and VoIP, suggesting they should be subject to the same regulations: “Voice communications services using IP …have characteristics that are functionally the same as circuit- switched voice telecommunications services,” the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said in a notice launching a public review on the issue.

The Mich. PSC gave parties 2 extra weeks to submit comments in its generic case addressing VoIP regulatory issues. Comments now are due April 21. The PSC hopes the docket will provide the basis for establishing “an informed, consistent regulatory policy” for VoIP that connects to the public switched phone network and VoIP that doesn’t interconnect. The PSC wants parties to use the extra time to more fully describe current VoIP availability in Mich., propose regulatory approaches to VoIP and address VoIP’s bearing on 911, universal service and intercarrier compensation.

The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) said it was launching a “call to action” for Enhanced 911 (E-911) legislation in the Senate. S-1250, introduced by Sens. Burns (R-Mont.) and Clinton (D-N.Y.), would approve about $500 million in federal funding to help states deploy E-911 technology, which would mainly allow 911 dispatchers to locate cell phone calls. E-911 legislation, HR-2898, has already passed the House, but it authorized only $100 million. APCO said it was encouraging members to write their senators and urge support of S-1250. APCO said it was also asking members to offer to give senators a tour of their 911 facilities. “The time for action on this bill is way over due,” APCO International Pres. Vincent Stile said. “We need this legislation to help protect the lives of the citizens we serve.”

A “call for clarity” is the motivation behind VoIP legislation introduced Fri., Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) said. Sununu announced targeted legislation designed to free VoIP from much of the regulation now applied to the legacy phone networks. House Commerce Committee Vice Chmn. Pickering (R- Miss.) said he would introduce similar -- but not identical -- legislation on the House side. Pickering said it was important to free VoIP from over-regulation because the technology would be a driver for broadband deployment.

Public safety groups urged the FCC in comments this week to expand the scope of Enhanced 911 requirements to include multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). The issue of how to provide caller location information to 911 centers from MLTS systems is among issues the Network Reliability & Interoperability said this week it would consider under a new 2-year charter (CD March 31 p6). But the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee backed an FCC decision last year to not enact E911 rules for MLTS, arguing states have clear jurisdiction and are a logical place for the issue to be resolved.

CompTel/Ascent Alliance said it adopted a set of principles to use as a guide for its VoIP policy advocacy. It said: (1) Decisions on VoIP issues should be “clearly articulated and easily applied to all network configurations which carry VoIP traffic.” (2) VoIP is an information, not telecom service. (3) VoIP services are interstate and “fall under exclusive federal jurisdiction and are exempt from state regulatory oversight.” (4) “Access to ILEC last-mile bottleneck facilities must remain available to competitive carriers at TELRIC rates.” (5) Inter-carrier compensation must be corrected to establish a system “with incentives to ensure that traffic is routed and terminated in the most efficient manner, consistent with the performance that would be expected in a competitive wholesale market.” (6) Social policy issues, such as Enhanced 911 “should be resolved through industry cooperation with state and federal regulators.” (7) CALEA issues should be addressed through “separate and targeted proceedings, which can be addressed separate from the economic issues without relying on a regulatory reclassification of VoIP services.” (8) “The existing Universal Service contribution methodology must be fixed before VoIP service providers should be considered for inclusion. A flat rate, technology neutral approach to assessment triggers should be considered.” CompTel/Ascent also said it planned to organize educational VoIP workshops and sessions to help its members “thrive in this dynamic environment.” The first workshop on the migration of UNE-P to VoIP is scheduled for May 18-19 in the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in Washington.

N.Y.C. is soliciting bids on a voice and data contract, worth about $200 million annually, covering all city govt. telecom services including 911. But city officials said the request for proposals wasn’t linked to the March 26 911 system failure in 3 boroughs, caused by a Verizon network technician’s error, that knocked out service 2 hours. Invitations to bid were sent out March 24, said city officials, and the decision to seek bids was made some time earlier. Verizon, which provides phone service for most city agencies as well as for 911, said it will bid on the contract. Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office said it had gotten one report of a March 26 fatality possibly linked to the 911 outage, when an elderly Queens man suffered a heart attack.

Enhanced 911 took center stage Tues. at the first meeting of the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC), chaired by Nextel CEO Timothy Donahue, the first wireless chief to head NRIC. “In this time of heightened national concern for public safety, it is only proper for us to focus a large portion of NRIC’s energy on the reliability and security of our nation’s emergency services communications networks,” FCC Chmn. Powell said.

Verizon told N.Y.C. officials that it will add a layer of review before starting any network changes that might affect 911 service, to avoid a 911 service interruption like the one on March 26. That failure knocked out 911 service to large parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for 2 hours on a Fri. evening. Verizon said a data entry mistake by a Verizon technician doing a network upgrade misrouted 911 traffic to a bank, which was closed. No loss of life or property was attributed to the 911 failure, because city emergency officials activated a backup plan immediately on noticing a sudden sharp dropoff in 911 call volume from the 3 boroughs. Among other things, the city put notices out via the city’s radio and TV stations about a 911 failure and gave alternate emergency numbers. The city also alerted the operators of its 311 system, normally for non-emergency public safety calls, to watch for emergency calls. It also worked out temporary arrangements with Verizon so that callers in the affected area who dialed “0” for operator were transferred to the Manhattan 911 center, which wasn’t affected by the glitch. After service was restored, however, Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded an explanation for the mishap and how a repeat would be prevented. A Verizon spokesman said that network changes being made in areas where 911 facilities might be affected will be subject to additional cross-checks by co-workers and supervisors, to ensure against adverse impacts on 911. Verizon said it will make a full report on the incident to its regulators. Bloomberg said no technology is perfect: “You have to have backups and I think we did have backups.” But City Councilman Pater Vallone, chmn. of the public safety committee, said the failure has heightened concerns about the need for a modern backup 911 facility, adequate system funding and Verizon’s performance as 911 carrier.