The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced today that it will host a free, three day policy program at SUPERCOMM 2005 entitled Convergence: Roadmap to Growth. This is a hot topic, guaranteed to make your head hurt: convergence is where (1) technology, (2) an insatiable demand for greater ability to communicate with one another at affordable prices, and (3) baroque telecom rules all collide.
The public cares about items 1 and 2, couldn't give a hoot about item 3, but the kicker is that item 3 has a huge impact on items 1 and 2 and indeed whether items 1 and 2 are delivered "as promised," on time, or even at all, without adding additional weird lines on one's telephone bill, restrictions on one's video viewing choices, and so on. It's where the marketing ballgame runs into the regulatory ballgame, and one hopes the marketing ballgame wins.
At today’s FCC Open Meeting, the Commission voted unanimously to require interconnected VoIP providers to provide Enhanced 911 (or E911) capabilities to consumers within 120 days of the effective date of the Commission’s order.
The Commission’s move follows increasing criticism of certain VoIP service providers whose customers suffered tragedies after calling what the customers believed to be E911 services in emergency situations – but the affected customers were unable to reach emergency operators.
Today’s FCC meeting was highlighted by testimonies from family members involved in these highly publicized incidents. The FCC’s use of testimony prior to vote presents somewhat of a novel, and by all accounts, effective approach in reaching the general public with details about the FCC’s actions.
The FCC’s news release, accompanied by individual statements from Chairman Martin, Commissioners Abernathy, Adelstein and Copps, and a recorded audio/video webcast of the Commission’s meeting may be found at the FCC’s website http://www.fcc.gov/.
