DAVID PADDON, cnews reports:

TORONTO (CP) — Companies that sell Internet telephone service to the public must provide at least basic emergency 911 service, Canada’s telecommunications regulator ruled Monday.

“It’s quite a sweeping decision that says 911 is fundamental to telephone service in Canada and if you’re going to offer phone service here, you must offer it,” commented telecom industry consultant Ian Angus.

“Personally, I think they’ve done a pretty good job here. They got very strong representation from the emergency-response services community at their hearings.”

Among concerns about voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) phones, which can be easily moved from place to place, is that 911 calls might be inadvertently routed to the wrong emergency-response centre.

Emergency service providers are also concerned that, even if calls get to the right place, VOIP technology provides them with fewer options to deal with a situation than traditional phone lines.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had originally indicated last April that 911 service would be mandatory “as soon as practicable” and that customers had to be clearly warned of the potential limitations of the Internet service.

In its ruling Monday, the commission took a tougher stance.

It said providers of “fixed” local VOIP service, where the address of the equipment doesn’t change, must provide basic 911 or enhanced 911 emergency service within 90 days.

Nomadic VOIP services, in which the equipment is moved around, will get 60 days to come up with an “interim solution that provides a level of service comparable to basic 911 service.”

Some companies have proposed setting up call centres that would receive emergency calls from nomadic VOIP phones and then connect each caller with the right emergency response centre.

The CRTC gave a technical committee up to a year to come up with a permanent solution for nomadic VOIP phones.

“The commission is of the opinion that market forces alone would not likely ensure the timely roll-out of reliable 911/E911 service associated with local VOIP services,” the CRTC said in its ruling.

It also said VOIP providers must notify customers of all limitations on emergency services before commencing service to them.

Representatives of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. and Vonage Canada, which both launched VOIP services across Canada last year, said they support the commission’s position.

“We thinks it’s an excellent decision by the CRTC,” said Primus Canada president Ted Chislett.

The CRTC appears open to the possibility of having 911 calls from nomadic VOIP phones directed to a company call centre for relay to the appropriate emergency centre, Chislett said.

Vonage Canada vice-president Joe Parent said the CRTC has made a good decision, and “we think it’s one that we can very quickly comply with.”