Holmdel, NJ, December 23, 2005 ? Vonage America, a subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp., today joined telecom industry committees, public safety groups and Congressional leaders to endorse the creation of an interim administrator for critical E911 numbering resources. These numbers, known as psuedo Automated Number Identification (pANI) enable 911 calls from nomadic phone numbers such as wireless phones and VoIP phones to access to the traditional phone network and enables calls from these phones to route to the proper emergency calling center.
As the North American Numbering Council's Emergency Service Interconnection Forum (ESIF) outlined in their recommendation for creating an emergency pANI administrator, there is no national mechanism for accessing or distributing these critical E911 numbering resources, thus the VoIP industry may not gain access to these numbers in time to meet the FCC's deadline. The National Emergency Number Association has recently made pANI a requirement for nomadic VoIP E911 deployment in accordance with the i2 standard, underscoring the need for VoIP providers to gain access to these resources. Vonage joins NENA, ESIF, NANC and Congressional leaders supporting the FCC in instituting an administrator to create a uniform method for distributing these numbers. ?Without pANI, we can't get calls from nomadic phones into the traditional E911 network,? said Jeffrey A. Citron, Vonage's Chairman and CEO. ?We agree with the industry that there needs to be a fair and equitable method of distributing these numbers to telecommunications, wireless and VoIP providers, to enable all of us to get E911 to our customers as quickly as possible. The FCC is currently reviewing the industry's proposal to solve this technical issue and we are lending support to the Commission in its endeavor to speed VoIP E911 deployment.?
In September the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and Alliance of Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Emergency Services Interconnection Forum (ESIF), both prominent telecommunications industry fora, recommended the Commission adopt an emergency interim administrator for E911 numbering resources, commonly known as pANI (pseudo Automated Number Identification), to enable the VoIP industry to meet the FCC's aggressive November 28 deadline for Enhanced 911 compliance. In November the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) also underscored NANC's recommendation to appoint an interim pANI administrator to help speed compliance with the FCC's implementation deadline.