Vonage Taps Level 3 For Key E911 Services

September 19, 2005

By Staff

With the clock quickly ticking down, Level 3 Communications today signed voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) agreements covering enhanced 911 services with Vonage and TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) – with Vonage as a customer and TCS as a supplier. At the same time, Level 3 launched a new “E-911 Direct” offering it says supports both fixed location and nomadic capabilities that are Federal Communications Commission-compliant E911 solutions for interconnected Voip providers.

The Level 3 deals with Vonage and TCS ostensibly are intrinsic to an earlier arrangement (TelecomWeb news break, July 26) in which Vonage contracted with TCS – whose specialty has been E911 services for the wireless industry – to run an E911 "fallback center" for 911 calls from Voip customers who can't be automatically routed to correct official public service answering points (PSAP) that handle emergency calls. Level 3 claims network connections to PSAPs serving approximately 67 percent of all U.S. households, with a projected buildout to 70 percent by year’s end.

In addition, Level 3 says its deal with Vonage Network, a Vonage Holdings Corp subsidiary, calls for the carrier to deliver E-911 Direct for Vonage's E911 rollout and to meet the FCC’s Nov. 28 deadline for Voip carriers to turn up E911 services. This includes Vonage using Level 3's existing competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) infrastructure for interconnection to hundreds of E911 selective routers across the country. The two companies plan to begin deploying E911 service for Vonage customers in the fourth quarter.

Under terms of the TCS partnering contract, Level 3 says TCS will deliver such “emergency service components” as rapid, accurate and real-time location functions to Level 3’s E-911 Direct customers. “It is essential that our customers have access to a nomadic solution, and that is what TCS assists us to deliver," says Myrle McNeal, senior vice president of local voice services for Level 3. The TCS mobility-intensive repertoire is said to include location determination, route determination, call delivery and location-content delivery.

The new E-911 Direct service, according to Level 3, involves the carrier working with Multiple Voip Positioning Centers (VPCs) responsible for collecting, updating and reporting subscriber location information used by PSAP operators. E-911 Direct – as part of the company’s local and nationwide IP voice solutions – routes and completes 911 calls with physical location information to the appropriate selective routers and to PSAPs.

In another Voip E911 development, emergency calling system/solution provider Intrado today said eight new Voip service providers have become customers of its V9-1-1 mobility service aimed at FCC compliance. The list includes Affinity, DNA, Ecuity, Heartland, I2, Spirit, Telefinity and US LEC.