VoIP Executives Should Push HR-2418, Aide Says
VoIP carriers would benefit from passage of pending telecom legislation, because even E-911 compliant companies face too many obstacles to getting linked with public safety access points (PSAPs), said Dana Lichtenberg, telecom aide to Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.). This is in part because too many in Congress think the FCC’s VoIP E-911 order “is all that was needed,” she said. Lichtenberg -- speaking at an enterprise VoIP conference held Wed. by the Information Technology Assn. of America (ITAA) -- said Gordon wants more resources for PSAPs, since many of the failures to meet the recent deadline were theirs. She said at least some E-911 language, alongside cable franchising issues, will be in a “stripped down” version of coming House telecom legislation. She held out hope the bill would remain bipartisan.
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VoIP providers generally adhered to the order “incredibly fast,” Lichtenberg later told Communications Daily, but the FCC couldn’t provide all tools needed to make the necessary transitions. The House bill (HR-2418) would give VoIP providers the same nondiscriminatory access to 911 PSAPs as other carriers in the market at “reasonable pricing” -- generally the same access rules as apply to wireless carriers. “If you don’t have guaranteed right to access, you don’t have the right to access” because the Bells control the access points, Lichtenberg said. Many PSAPs hesitate to take calls for which they might face liability, a problem even for compliant VoIP providers, so the bill provides for “good Samaritan” immunity equivalent to that granted other providers. Whether a call comes from a PSTN switch or an IP switch, she said, “it’s all 911. [Taking the calls] is just critical for it to work properly.”
Lichtenberg urged the VoIP community to push for more sponsorship of the bill, because “we need more cosponsors to move this bill” through leadership. Even if the bill moves through the House, she said, it’s unclear whether it will meet up with its Senate counterpart (S-1063), which addresses E-911 and universal service fund issues.
Many PSAPs’ budgets keep them from getting in sync with VoIP providers in their area, Lichtenberg said. While PSAPs traditionally are overseen at the state and local level, she pointed to federal incentives in the form of upgrade grant money from the 700 MHz wireless spectrum auctions. A recently passed DTV bill calls for a $43.5 million grant fund for precisely those kinds of updates, though specifics of the appropriation haven’t been laid out (CD Feb 27 p12). -- Ian Martinez
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The opportunities for VoIP providers in the govt. market are immense, speakers on ITAA’s enterprise VoIP panels said Wed. Voice is the 2nd-fastest growing area of govt. spending, after professional services/consulting, said Alan Balutis Input’s CEO. DoD offers many opportunities, he said, and while VoIP has deployed slower than many had originally hoped, this has been a result of legitimate security concerns. The firm that assuages those concerns will win big contracts, he said.