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The FCC is questioning whether carriers offering dual-mode phones...

The FCC is questioning whether carriers offering dual-mode phones so subscribers can make calls using traditional phone service or via Internet come under rules for E-911 and VoIP as the agency implements the NET 911 Improvement Act. That’s in…

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part bad news for T-Mobile, which in 2005 sought FCC clarification on that issue, before launching its Unlimited Hotspot Calling service. T-Mobile hoped that the FCC would address the issue apart from a broader VoIP 911 rulemaking. The good news for T- Mobile is that the FCC backed down from a proposal circulated by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin tentatively concluding that dual mode phones should face the VoIP rules. A majority of commissioners opposed adopting that conclusion, sources said. “It would turn the Act on its head to force providers like T-Mobile, which already have proven access to 911 infrastructure as CMRS providers, to rely instead on the newly-created infrastructure access mandated by the Act for interconnected VoIP providers,” T- Mobile said in a recent filing. The FCC adopted an NPRM on implementing the NET 911 Act but has not released the text. The order was the lone item for Friday’s agenda meeting before it was cancelled Friday morning. Late Thursday, the FCC announced that the item making revisions to FCC roaming rules had, as expected, been deleted from the meeting agenda.