Lawyer Article

Published in the August 9, 2005 issue of Southeast Tech Wire

Earlier this summer the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) released an order setting forth the 911 obligations of providers of interconnected VoIP services. As discussed in our June 29, 2005 WCSR Advisory – and as summarized below -- the FCC’s VoIP E911 rules are effective as of July 29, 2005.

Compliance Deadlines

Under the Commission’s order, by July 29 VoIP providers must take the following actions:

• Distribute to new and existing customers a letter describing the circumstances under which E911 service may not be available to them;
• Provide subscribers with warning stickers or labels noting that E911 service may have certain limitations;
• Begin obtaining and keeping records of affirmative acknowledgments from subscribers indicating that they have received and understood the letter describing E911 limitations.

By November 28, 2005 VoIP providers must submit to the FCC a letter describing their compliance with all the other requirements of the order, including:

• The ability to transmit all 911 calls, a call back number, and the consumer’s “Registered Location” to the public service answering point (“PSAP”) via the dedicated “Wireline E911 Network;”
• Provide interconnection indirectly with a 911 provider, directly with the Wireline E911 Network, or through any other means;
• Put in place a database of the “Registered Location” for every customer of the carrier – no opt-out allowed – that may be modified by consumers by multiple means, including use of the telephone;

 Conditional Stay of Enforcement

The Commission released a Public Notice on July 26 announcing that it will not seek enforcement, for a thirty (30) day period, of the requirement that providers obtain affirmative acknowledgements, by July 29, 2005, from 100% of their subscribers that they have read and understood an advisory concerning the limitations of their E911 service. This stay of enforcement is subject to the condition that the provider file a detailed report by August 10, 2005 containing the following information:

• A detailed description of all actions the provider has taken to specifically advise every subscriber, prominently and in plain language, of the circumstances under which E911 service may not be available through the interconnected VoIP service and/or may be in some way limited by comparison to traditional E911 service. This information should include, but is not limited to, relevant dates and methods of contact with subscribers (i.e., e-mail, U. S. mail);
• A quantification of how many of the provider’s subscribers, on a percentage basis, have submitted an affirmative acknowledgement, as of the date of the report, and an estimation of the percentage of subscribers from whom they do not expect to receive an acknowledgement by August 29, 2005;
• A detailed description of whether and how the provider has distributed to all subscribers warning stickers or other appropriate labels warning subscribers if E911 service may be limited or not available and instructing the subscriber to place them on and/or near the customer premises equipment used in connection with the interconnected VoIP service. This information should include, but is not limited to, relevant dates and methods of contact with subscribers (i.e., e-mail, U. S. mail);
• A quantification of how many subscribers, on a percentage basis, to whom the provider did not send the advisory described in the first bullet above and/or to whom the provider did not send warning stickers or other appropriate label as identified in the bullet immediately above;
• A detailed description of any and all actions the provider plans on taking towards any of its subscribers that do not affirmatively acknowledge having received and understood the advisory, including, but not limited to, disconnecting the subscriber’s VoIP service with the Company no later than August 30, 2005;
• A detailed description of how the provider is currently maintaining any acknowledgements received from its subscribers; and
• The name, title, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the person(s) responsible for the Company’s compliance efforts with the VoIP E911 Order.

Again, the filing deadline is August 10, 2005. All reports must reference WC Docket No. 05-196 and should be labeled clearly on the first page as “Subscriber Notification Report.” The report may be filed by: (1) the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), or (2) by filing paper copies.

Please contact Mark Palchick (202) 857-4411 or Howard Barr if you have any questions regarding this advisory.