In addition to the absence of liability parity (a statute that shields wireline and wireless carriers from lawsuits if an emergency call goes bad despite good faith efforts), VoIP providers are struggling with another hindrance to providing E911 — incumbent carriers own the switches to which they must connect to offer E911, and the FCC has not told ILECs to open such infrastructure to competitors.
So VoIP providers must negotiate for unregulated rates and conditions, and even then the ILECs have little incentive to cooperate.
“They won’t make money” from the deals, says Staci Pies, president of the VON Coalition, and vice president of regulatory and governmental affairs for PointOne Inc. That’s because costs are high when accepting additional liability, and because a lot of upfront time and money are involved for systems testing.
The Senate also is trying to solve the interconnection issue. In addition to endowing liability parity, The IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act would force incumbents to work with VoIP providers.
Securing liability parity for VoIP providers is paramount, say industry insiders. For one thing, providers cannot effectively operate in a state of uncertainty. “That’s a very difficult position to stay in,” says Greg Rohde, executive director of the E9-1-1 Institute in Washington, D.C. For another, certain demographics are hurt by limited deployments. “Rural consumers are being left behind, essentially creating a digital voice divide,” says Pies. However, fixing the E911 plight is “somewhat out of our control,” she adds. Says Doug Denny-Brown, general counsel and vice president of regulatory affairs for RNK Communications: “To some extent, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
For more about VoIP providers' challenges with obtaining liability protection , read xchange's April article " E911 Update ."
E9-1-1 Institute www.e911institute.org
FCC www.fcc.gov
RNK Communications www.rnkcom.com
U.S. Senate www.senate.gov
VON Coalition www.von.org
