Internet phone companies ask for delay of FCC E911 rules

Friday, November 4th 2005, 9:47 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ A quartet of Internet telephone providers has asked a federal appeals court to partially delay enforcement of new Federal Communications Commission guidelines requiring them to ensure reliable 911 emergency call service.

Overland Park, Kan.-based Nuvio Corp. filed suit in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in August, challenging the new rules, which go into effect Nov. 28.

Since then, the company said, the FCC hasn't responded and, with time running out, Nuvio filed a motion with the appeals court Tuesday asking for the delay. The court has ordered the FCC to respond by next Tuesday.

An FCC spokesman on Wednesday said the agency wouldn't comment on the lawsuit or the most recent motion.

Nuvio is a provider of Voice over Internet Protocol, also known as VoIP, which transmits calls using the Internet. Three other VoIP providers _ Louisville, Ky.-based Lightyear Network Solutions LLC; McLean, Va.-based Primus Telecommunications Group Inc.'s subsidiary Lingo Inc.; and Atlanta-based i2 Telecom International Inc. _ have joined the suit.

In May, the FCC ordered providers of Internet-based phone calls to certify that their customers will be able to reach an emergency dispatcher when they call 911. Dispatchers also must be able to identify the caller's phone number and location.

Jason Talley, Nuvio's president and chief executive officer, said that would require hooking the system to a traditional wireline network with national coverage. He said that's currently impossible because of technology differences, the fact VoIP customers can make their calls from anywhere in the world and traditional phone companies aren't required to provide the VoIP networks with access to their lines.

``Ultimately the main stumbling block is the FCC gave us 120 days to develop and design an E911 system similar to the wireless service that's been out for 12 years,'' he said.

Without a delay, Talley said his company would likely have to drop customers or ask them to provide an address, which could easily be wrong or false.

One major VoIP provider, 8x8 Inc., based in Santa Clara, Calif., said it would welcome additional time to comply with the guidelines.

``We have been working feverishly to get our systems to a point where they are compliant with the order,'' said Huw Rees, a company spokesman. ``Our intention was always to be in compliance by the Nov. 28 date. Having said that, we aren't entirely sure everything we are trying to do would be viewed as in compliance by the FCC.''

Rees declined to go into detail about what the FCC might view as not being in compliance. The company has been seeking clarification from the FCC, but Rees said the agency hasn't been forthcoming with additional guidance.

``I think we certainly would take the position that the order for VoIP to provide this was hastily done and the time frame required was unfair when you compare it to the time frame provided to the mobile phone companies,'' Rees said. ``The mobile phone companies have had 10 years or more to provide 911, and they still don't provide it all over the country. And the VoIP companies were given 120 days.''

New Jersey-based Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest VoIP carrier with more than 800,000 subscribers, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.