Press Release

New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate Says Consumers’ Lives Better Protected with FCC’s
Required Enhanced 911 Service for VoIP Phone Service Providers

Newark, N.J.-- Ratepayer Advocate Seema M. Singh today said the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ruling requiring providers of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service to supply enhanced 911 emergency calling capabilities to their customers is good news to consumers and she hopes it will lead to stronger regulation of the technology for the benefit of ratepayers.

“Consumers deserve to have the same level of service and safety with their Voice over Internet Protocol service as they do with traditional telephone service,” said Singh. “The FCC’s requirement making it mandatory that providers of Voice Over Internet Protocol phone service deliver all 911 emergency calling services is good news for consumers, but is only the tip of the iceberg in what is needed to address this innovative technology to benefit all users.”

Singh wants strong joint state and federal regulation of VoIP technology. In comments filed last year, the Ratepayer Advocate previously recommended to the FCC the adoption of requirements for E-911 services for VoIP providers.

• The FCC’s May 19 ruling gives providers four months from the order’s date to make the emergency service a standard, rather than optional feature. The order calls for the following:
• Interconnected VoIP providers must deliver all 911 calls to the customer’s local emergency operator. This must be a standard, rather than optional, feature of the service.
• Interconnected VoIP providers must provide emergency operators with the call back number and location information of their customers (i.e., E911) where the emergency operator is capable of receiving it. Although the customer must provide the location information, the VoIP provider must provide the customer a means of updating this information, whether he or she is at home or away from home.
• By the effective date, interconnected VoIP providers must inform their customers, both new and existing, of the E911 capabilities and limitations of their service.
• The incumbent LECs are required to provide access to their E911 networks to any requesting telecommunications carrier. They must continue to provide access to trunks, selective routers, and E911 databases to competing carriers. The Commission will closely monitor this obligation.

The Division of the Ratepayer Advocate is an independent state agency that represents the interests of utility consumers and serves as an active participant in every case whenever New Jersey utilities seek changes in their rates or services. The Ratepayer Advocate also gives consumers a voice in setting long-range energy, water, and telecommunications policy that will affect the delivery of utility services well into the future.

Additional information on this and other matters can be found at the Division of Ratepayer Advocate’s website at http://www.rpa.state.nj.us

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