WASHINGTON-Recognizing that sometimes it is the local wireline arrier that is the impediment to new communications technologies gaining access to enhanced 911 services, the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday passed legislation requiring the Federal Communications Commission to mandate access.
The wireless industry has found it sometimes difficult to connect to public-safety answering point routers because wireline incumbents control them.
Voice over Internet Protocol providers were shocked earlier this year when the FCC mandated they provide access to E-911 without mandating access to the PSAP routers controlled by incumbent wireline carriers. The commission rules require incumbent local exchange carriers to offer access to the 911 network to other telecom carriers. ILECs are not required to offer access to VoIP providers that consider themselves to be information services.
The legislation also gives liability protection for VoIP providers and PSAPs responding to a VoIP 911 call. Wireless carriers fought hard in 1999 to gain the liability protection afforded to wireline carriers with the advent of 911 in the 1960s.
The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration. A similar bill has been introduced in the House.
In June, the FCC gave VoIP service providers until Nov. 29 to provide E-911 capabilities to their subscribers and required them to advise every subscriber of the circumstances under which VoIP E-911 service may not be available or may be limited compared with traditional E-911 service. VoIP firms also were ordered to keep a record of acknowledgement of the advisory for every subscriber.
Meanwhile, the FCC is considering several waiver requests from wireless carriers that chose the handset option to provide their end users with E-911. These carriers say they will not be able to meet the Dec. 31 deadline to have 95 percent of the handsets in use on their networks to be location capable.
And the VoIP playground continued to get more crowded with two new developments this week. Microsoft Corp. continued to move into the VoIP space, announcing an agreement to acquire Swiss software developer Media-streams.com AG. The software giant said it plans to use Media-streams’ technology to integrate Internet-based applications including e-mail; instant messaging; and voice and audio, “breaking down the silos of communication.”
Microsoft acquired VoIP services provider Teleo earlier this year. Terms of the Media-streams.com deal were not announced.
Internet services provider NetZero joined the party as well, launching a VoIP offering that delivers local and long-distance calling over dial-up and broadband Internet connections. Like Skype-the grandfather of VoIP service providers-NetZero Voice includes free computer-to-computer calling, while users pay for calls between computers and phones.
“We believe consumers should not have to have broadband Internet access in order to enjoy the price savings and feature content of Internet phone calling,” said Mark R. Goldston, chief executive officer of NetZero parent company United Online Inc.
In related news, German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Systems awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to Massachusetts-based Sonus Networks Inc. to expand its VoIP network. “The new network expansion gives T-Systems the flexibility to extend our service around the globe and continue to expand our portfolio of next-generation services,” said Bjoern Classen, a T-Systems spokesman.
T-Systems said initially it would concentrate on Europe and North America.
RCR Wireless News reporter Colin Gibbs contributed to this story.
