Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron warned Fri. that “premature regulations could kill the nascent VoIP industry.” Speaking at a policy lunch sponsored by the Progress & Freedom Foundation in Washington, Citron said regulations could slow broadband deployment, undermine the U.S. position as a technological leader and force service providers offshore. He urged legislators to “bring clarity to the VoIP regulatory framework to protect competition. New laws are needed to ensure Internet applications remain free from regulation.”

The first large-scale use of a “reverse 911” system in Port Clinton, O., generated a “totally unacceptable” number of complaints about calls that went astray, officials said. Reverse 911 systems use autodialing/announcing devices to notify people by phone of emergencies and give instructions. In Port Clinton, potential water contamination arising from a major water main break led Ottawa County public safety officials to use their 2-year-old reverse 911 system, administered by the N.Y.-based Community Alert Network (CAN), to advise people in certain sections of the city to boil tap water before drinking it. Many people in the danger zone complained they never received the calls, while others far outside that zone said they did. The system had been used once before, in Nov. 2002, to alert a couple of hundred residents about tornado danger, but this was the first use of reverse 911 to notify thousands of a danger. All told, 2,121 calls were placed, but only 1,753 got through. Several dozen calls went to locations outside the danger areas. The CAN said it had believed the seller of the phone number database it used was reliable. To prevent a recurrence, Ottawa County said it would get from Verizon a CD containing the same database used by the regular E911 system and would forward that to CAN. Officials said they hoped the corrected listings would be in place within 3 weeks.

Correction: T-Mobile told the FCC in an Enhanced 911 progress report (CD Feb 5 p11) that it had deployed 914 of 1,268 requests it received from public safety answering points.

Only 1/2 of all public safety answering points (PSAPs) will be able to pinpoint wireless callers with the precision of Enhanced 911 Phase 2 by 2005, the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said in findings announced Thurs. NENA’s Strategic Wireless Action Team (SWAT) wrapped up a year-long effort by private sector, govt. and public safety officials to examine E911 implementation. But disagreements over some findings indicate rifts on issues such as carrier cost recovery, state coordination and federal funding.

Sprint Chmn. Gary Forsee called on the FCC to bring “much-needed clarity by promptly ruling that phone-to-phone VoIP should pay access charges.” Speaking at a Sprint investors meeting Wed. in N.Y., he said his company would take a high profile in addressing VoIP issues this year, pushing regulators to eliminate regulatory uncertainty: “Our perspective is to take prudent positions on initiatives such as UNE-P and VoIP to minimize the effect of regulatory mixed messages.” He expressed concern that “regulatory uncertainty” could interfere with the industry’s moving forward: “What this industry needs from regulation is clear, rational rules, especially surrounding VoIP and intercarrier compensation. Right now it’s a mess.”

T-Mobile told the FCC it had deployed 214 of 1,268 requests it received from public safety answering points (PSAPs) for Phase 1 Enhanced 911 service. For E911 Phase 2, T-Mobile said it was moving ahead on the design and rollout of its network-based Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) solution. The carrier said it had begun TDOA deployments in 16 markets and was delivering its interim Phase 2 Network Safety Solution to PSAPs as it shifted those communities to TDOA. In its quarterly E911 filing at the FCC, T-Mobile said it was on track to meet the requirements laid out in its consent decree to roll out Phase 2 services.

Wireless carriers told the FCC in quarterly Enhanced 911 reports Mon. they still faced challenges involving LEC and public safety answering point (PSAP) readiness. Sprint said it deployed Phase 1 E911 service to 53 PSAPs in the 4th quarter of 2003, increasing the total of PSAPs for which it provided Phase 1 to 1,876. It rolled out Phase 2 to 59 more PSAPs in the quarter, boosting the total to 575. Phase 1 capabilities let a PSAP locate a caller by cell site but Phase 2 offers the ability to pinpoint a caller to within 50 m. “Although Sprint has met all current FCC mandates, and has a network capable of supporting Phase 2 deployment nationwide, live Phase 2 deployment efforts continue to face challenges,” it said. “LEC and PSAP readiness issues continue to impact Sprint’s ability to make Phase 2 services available to its customers.” Nextel said it had met the 2nd deadline of its E911 waiver order, which required at least 10% of all new handsets to be activated between Dec. 31, 2002, and Nov. 30, 2003, to be Assisted-GPS capable. Nextel offered 3 new A-GPS capable handsets for a total of 7 models and deployed 49 more Phase 2 PSAPs. “There continue to be literally thousands of PSAPs from whom Nextel has received neither a Phase 1 nor a Phase 2 valid request,” it said. “Nextel’s ability to provide E911 service to its customers is sharply curtailed by the readiness of many PSAPs throughout the country.” Nextel said it continued to provide service for valid E911 requests from PSAPs at a fast pace. “However, myriad issues, including inadequate funding at local, state and federal levels, prevent the vast majority of PSAPs throughout the country from receiving and using a caller’s latitude and longitude information, and given the status quo, most PSAPs likely will not be ready in the near future,” it said. Cingular reported receiving 1,430 PSAP requests for Phase 1 service, of which 94.3% were in progress. Cingular said it received 657 PSAP requests for Phase 2 service on its GSM networks and 511 on its TDMA networks, of which 421 had been deployed. Of the 421, 17% still weren’t ready to accept the Phase 2 data, Cingular said: “Many of these PSAPs were unable to successfully complete end-to-end testing of the Phase 2 solution because of readiness problems.” Verizon Wireless said it rolled out Phase 2 service to 112 more PSAPs in the 4th quarter since its last report. The carrier said it now provided Phase 2 to 1,019 PSAPs. As of Dec. 31, Verizon Wireless said all of the 26 handset models it sold were GPS-capable. In the quarter, Verizon said 78% of all new handsets activated nationwide were capable of transmitting caller location information. It said the St. Louis and Chicago PSAPs hadn’t acquired upgrades needed, including from a LEC, to activate E911 service. In St. Louis, the county PSAP said it still was disputing selective router charges from Southwestern Bell. Southwestern Bell won’t install facilities for Verizon Wireless until it receives confirmation that its charges for the selective router will be paid. Since Jan. 2002, the PSAP has declined to pay such charges, it said. AT&T Wireless said it has met the deadline in its E911 GSM consent decree since the last quarterly report. For example, by Nov. 30, the carrier had to provide Phase 2 service to all of a PSAP’s coverage area for valid requests received by Sept. 30 and for 50% of a PSAP’s coverage area for requests received after Sept. 30, 2002, but before April 30, 2003.

Representatives of Cal. providers of VoIP services told a Cal. Senate committee that they accepted limited state regulatory oversight, while state regulators and lawmakers said they didn’t see a need for heavy-handed regulation of the nascent VoIP industry. The Cal. Senate Energy Utilities & Communications Committee held hearings on whether state legislation was needed to address public interest implications of VoIP. State Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) said VoIP providers’ participation in 911 systems and universal service programs was the crucial public interest issues. Cal. PUC Comr. Carl Wood said VoIP regulation should follow the cellphone model with a minimum of regulation, focused on consumer protection. Comr. Susan Kennedy said universal service contributions should be assessed per phone number, regardless of the technology. Representatives of VoIP providers 8x8 Communications and SBC Advanced Solutions said they might support participation in universal service subsidy systems if the funds were used to spread broadband access to new communities, and they would work with public officials to tie VoIP customers to 911 systems. They also said if VoIP were free to compete on price and service, reasonable regulations for protection of customers might be acceptable. Last year, the VoIP industry in Cal. was adamant any state VoIP regulation would be inappropriate.

Public safety officials and rural carriers told a Capitol Hill round table Wed. they had serious concerns about funding, technology deployment and LEC readiness for Enhanced 911 deployment, especially in more sparsely populated rural areas. Several called for a greater federal role in standards, tax incentives and program funding.

It’s time for the 1996 Telecom Act to be reviewed, Hill and FCC panelists said at a Comnet conference in Washington Wed., noting, however, that it could take “some time” before that would be done. House Commerce Committee staffer Greg Rothschild said as VoIP was emerging as one of the critical issues to be addressed by the Commission and Congress, “there is very little in the Act on how to regulate [broadband], and on whether or not it should be regulated… The ‘96 Act has very little application to the questions we are dealing with now.” Citing her previous experience with the 1996 Act, FCC Comr. Adelstein’s aide Lisa Zaina said that when writing a new act it was important to consider how it would be implemented.