Pulver to Challenge FCC’s VoIP 911 Order
CHICAGO -- VoIP guru Jeff Pulver will file a petition for reconsideration challenging an FCC order giving all VoIP operators 120 days to make 911 service available to customers. Pulver told a Supercomm dinner here Wed. night the order misunderstands the changing nature of communications and the business models made possible by VoIP.
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Even though the order is new and the net effect unclear, Pulver said, it appears to be having a negative financial effect on the sector. Capital markets remain strong, but the order has injected a new element of uncertainty, he said. “Businesses offering 911 services are seeing gold,” he said. “There are lots of people in the market right now looking to invest in the space… but if you're going to be yet another voice over broadband provider, it may not be as exciting as it was month ago.”
Pulver questioned whether the FCC fully understands the changing nature of communications driven by an instant-messaging mindset. “I don’t believe that the folks who write the regulatory policies are focused on the current. They're really focused on the past,” he said. “At the end of the day, the service providers who will make it 2,3, 4, 5 years from now are the ones who actually reach out to the instant messaging, always on generation… rather than the people who are just focusing on substitute, replacement phone service.”
Beware the law of unintended consequences, Pulver told listeners. Early readings of the FCC order -- released last week after being voted out of the Commission 4-0 in May -- would place 911 requirements on the free service, he said. “That’s not necessarily the intent, but that’s what’s written,” Pulver said. That’s one of the issues that will be raised in the petition for reconsideration, he said.
He doesn’t relish challenging the FCC order but feels obligated to file a petition, Pulver said. He said he will weigh a court challenge as well but hopes to a legal fight.