An equipment provider told FCC Chmn. Martin it has a device that easily could address VoIP providers’ lack of full E-911 capability. In a Dec. 19 ex parte, Zoom Technology said its TelePort device can route calls to the Internet as VoIP calls or directly to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). “When a subscriber dials 911, the TelePort ’smart switch’ automatically routes the call over the customer’s conventional telephone line,” the letter said. The PSTN link “need only allow 911 calls; some or all other calls can be handled by the interconnected VoIP provider as VoIP calls,” Zoom said: “Because it is common for many VoIP subscribers to maintain a live PSTN connection, the TelePort solution will enable a variety of providers to continue deployment of their innovative services while ensuring that both existing and new subscribers have access to critical E911 services.”
Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) put a hold on the candidacies of FCC nominees Michael Copps and Deborah Tate to press Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) to resolve a fight over the VoIP E-911 bill, said Senate Democratic and Republican sources. The fight centers on language involving waivers for companies that can’t comply with a requirement to provide all the 911 coverage required in the bill, which cleared the committee in early Nov. (CD Nov. 3 p11). Some public safety groups want the waiver language removed -- or at least eased -- but efforts at compromise faltered at the committee level, sources said.
A U.S. court in N.Y. denied Vonage’s plea for a permanent injunction barring the N.Y. PSC from enforcing an order that the VoIP provider submit to minimal regulation as a CLEC, including provision of 911 service. The U.S. Dist. Court, N.Y.C. in June 2004 granted Vonage a temporary injunction to last until the FCC resolved pending dockets on VoIP providers’ regulatory responsibilities and obligations. The temporary injunction required Vonage to participate in PSC proceedings on VoIP E911 issues until the FCC ruled. Vonage wanted a permanent injunction but no obligation to participate in PSC E-911 proceedings. The court said Vonage wouldn’t be hurt by participating in PSC E-911 cases while it waits for the FCC to settle various VoIP regulatory issues.
Public safety efforts focus too much on using traditional “telephone and radio” in emergencies, when data can do a far better job, a Nashville 911 center chief told communications executives Fri. RoxAnn Brown told the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) “vast data sources” could be useful to emergency responders if they could tap into them.
Consumers and the telecom industry would benefit from passage of S-1063, the E-911 bill sponsored by Sens. Nelson (D-Fla.) and Burns (R-Mont.), entrepreneur Jeff Pulver said Fri. in his blog. “While not perfect, the bill would advance the viability, speed to deployment and clarity in regulatory oversight [of] VoIP products and services,” he said. “If you care about the progress toward an IP-enabled world, about direct access to the 911 network, about equivalent liability relief, about no technology mandates, about accelerating an IP based 911 network -- then you should call Senator Rockefeller’s office” and urge him to lift a hold on the bill, Pulver said. A Senate source said the hold was placed on the bill to work out language that would ease public safety community concerns about the waiver provisions.
Major wireless carriers face an uphill battle persuading the FCC to suspend a Dec. 31 deadline for 95% of handsets be location capable, at least based on limited waivers granted so far for smaller Tier 3 carriers, said industry and public safety sources.
Verizon told the W.Va. PSC and county 911 officials that development of a statewide enhanced 911 system could require that it nearly double its service rate to county 911 centers. In response to a PSC request, Verizon said its rate to the counties may have to increase to $210 monthly per thousand lines, from $110. County officials said such an increase would require raising E-911 phone bill surcharges on landlines by over 75%. The PSC commissioned a 911 task force earlier this year to address pleas from smaller counties that sought ways to afford the latest 911 enhancements available to large counties. W.Va. has basic 911 available statewide, but enhanced versions with automatic call location databases are found mainly in larger, wealthier counties. Staffers said Verizon is to submit a formal detailed proposal to the PSC before the end of this month.
Universal Service Fund (USF) reform should be a pillar of telecom reform, FCC Comr. nominee Copps told Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) at his Tues. confirmation hearing. The FCC needs to hear from Congress what “universal service” means, Copps said. He also said the contribution methodology needs repair. Responding to Stevens’ query on Copps’s top priority in updating the ‘96 Telecom Act, he said: “USF is so essential to the future of this country… I think we've got to fix that system.”
The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) raised red flags about a request from wireless reseller TracFone that the FCC potentially lighten the regulatory load placed on it if it’s designated as the first wireless reseller with eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) status under the USF lifeline program. Public safety sources said Tues. while TracFone is relatively small compared to a few of its peers, the issues raised aren’t, especially if other resellers also apply for ETC status.
FCC Comr. nominee Deborah Tate has a reputation in the telecom industry as an advocate of a consumer-centric approach rather than regulatory restraints on market power, observers said. She hasn’t left much of a mark on wireless issues while at the Tenn. Regulatory Authority (TRA), but repeatedly has pushed for state-federal partnership in regulating IP-enabled services, they said. “Tate has demonstrated a knack for balancing between a role for regulation and trust the market that bodes well for her success at the FCC,” a wireless industry source said.