Court Rules on VoIP Deadline

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the FCC’s 120-day deadline for implementing VoIP/E911 services was reasonable, putting more bite into the Commission’s attempt to get all types of 911 callers directly connected to their local PSAP. The ruling in a lawsuit brought by several companies that provide telephone service via IP connection, or voice over IP (VoIP). The companies claimed the FCC didn’t take into account the difficulty and cost of implementing E911 service. But the court said the companies had not met their burden of proof that the FCC’s order was, ““arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” But the court said that the company Intrado was offering a solution when the FCC issued its deadline, and both Vonage and Verizon had said they would use the service. The court also ruled against several other arguments presented by the companies. Download (pdf) a copy of the court’s ruling here.