FCC Requires VoIP Outage Reporting

In an effort to boost the nation’s 9-1-1 services, the FCC will begin requiring interconnected VoIP service providers to report significant network outages that meet specific criteria and thresholds.


Specificantly, the FCC’s Report and Order defines outage reporting for interconnected VoIP service, establishes reporting criteria and thresholds, and discusses how the reporting process should work, what information should be
reported, and confidential treatment of the outage reports.


The FCC plans to use outage reports to track and analyze information on interconnected VoIP outages affecting 9-1-1 service and determine if action is needed to prevent future outages.


According to the FCC’s most recent Local Competition Report, almost one-third of the more than 87 million residential telephone subscriptions are now provided as interconnected VoIP service. This means that interconnected VoIP platforms are carrying a substantial volume of 9-1-1 calls.


The FCC deferred action on a number of questions, including the possibility of setting thresholds for reporting outages of broadband Internet service, and measurements for outages of both interconnected VoIP and broadband Internet services based on performance degradation, as opposed to complete service outage.
http://www.fcc.gov