Emergency Call Service and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Services. Consultation Paper

Transcription

1 Emergency Call Service and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Services Consultation Paper June 2007

2 Commonwealth of Australia 2007 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, Communications and Publishing, Australian Communications and Media Authority, PO Box Law Courts, Melbourne Vic Published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority Canberra Central Office Purple Building, Benjamin Offices Chan Street, Belconnen PO Box 78, Belconnen ACT 2616 Tel: Fax: Melbourne Central Office Level 44, Melbourne Central Tower 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne PO Box Law Courts Melbourne Vic 8010 Tel: Fax: TTY: Sydney Central Office Level 15, Tower 1 Darling Park 201 Sussex Street, Sydney PO Box Q500 Queen Victoria Building NSW 1230 Tel: , Fax:

3 Introduction The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released a Draft Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Amendment Determination 2007 (draft amending Determination) for consultation. A copy of the draft amending Determination is available on ACMA website at The key initiative is to clarify that the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2002 (ECS Determination) applies to two-way and dial-out Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, and that providers of such services must provide access to the emergency call service. The draft amending Determination accompanies this consultation paper. ACMA seeks your written submissions on the draft amending Determination by 2 July Submissions received after this date may not be considered in finalising the amendments to the ECS Determination. Submissions Submissions should be sent to: Soheil Derakhshan Manager Community and National Interests Section Australian Communications and Media Authority PO Box Law Courts Melbourne VIC 8010 or Publication of submissions In general, ACMA publishes all submissions it receives. ACMA prefers to receive submissions which are not claimed to be confidential. However, ACMA accepts that a submitter may sometimes wish to provide information in confidence. In these circumstances, submitters are asked to identify the material over which confidentiality is claimed and provide a written explanation for confidentiality claims. ACMA will consider each claim for confidentiality on a case by case basis. If ACMA accepts a confidentiality claim, it will not publish the confidential information unless required to do so by law. When can ACMA be required by law to release information? Any submissions provided to ACMA may be released under the Freedom of Information Act ACMA may also be required to release submissions for other reasons including for the purpose of parliamentary processes or where otherwise required by law (for example a court subpoena). While ACMA, seeks to consult and where required by law, will consult with submitters of confidential information, before that information is provided to another body or agency, ACMA cannot guarantee that confidential information will not be released through these or other legal means. 3

4 Background The ECS Determination is made under subsection 147(1) of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (the TCPSS Act) which requires ACMA to make a written determination imposing requirements on carriers, carriage service providers (CSPs) and emergency call persons (ECPs) in relation to the emergency call service. The objective of the ECS Determination is to ensure that every end-user of a standard telephone service, that the end-user would reasonably use, as a first choice to make an emergency call, has access, free of charge, to an emergency call service. The ECS Determination sets out arrangements affecting: Carriers; CSPs who supply standard emergency telephone services (SETS); and ECPs. Therefore, the SETS is defined so that it does not apply to those standard telephone services that are unlikely to be used for emergency calls, such as long distance or international services. The ECS Determination also sets out arrangements: affecting Telstra as the current manager of the integrated public number database (IPND), as well as carriage service providers regarding their IPNDrelated obligations; and requiring ECPs 1 to answer and handle emergency calls in an appropriate way and transfer calls to the appropriate emergency service organisations (ESOs). A report regarding Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services entitled Examination of Policy and Regulation Relating to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Services was released by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) in November 2005 (VoIP Report) 2. The VoIP Report s recommendations were all accepted and are being implemented by the Government. ACMA has a key role in the implementation of many of the recommendations. In particular, ACMA has the primary carriage of several critical VoIP recommendations and these are being implemented progressively. The VoIP Report made the following recommendations relating to emergency call services obligations on VoIP service providers (VSPs): Recommendation 7: VoIP services should be flagged in the IPND so that the emergency service operator will know that they need to ask the caller for location information. 1 The current emergency call persons are Telstra Corporation Ltd for Triple Zero (000) and 112 and Australian Communication Exchange Ltd for 106. The 106 emergency call service is equivalent to the Triple Zero emergency call service and is used by people who are deaf or hearing/speech impaired to make text-based calls using a TTY, modem or similar terminal. 2 See at: 4

5 Recommendation 22: Two-way VoIP services that connect to the public telephone network must provide free 000 and 106 emergency call access and reliable calling line identification. Recommendation 23: Dial-out only VoIP services must provide free access to 000 and 106. The draft amending Determination is designed to implement these recommendations. It will clarify that, in relation to the two-way and dial-out only VoIP services, the ECS Determination applies, such that VSPs must provide, free of charge: access to the emergency call services; relevant information to the IPND Manager; and available location information to the ECPs. Further review of the ECS Determination in 2007 In addition, ACMA will commence a more extensive review of the ECS Determination, later in 2007, and it is anticipated that this will result in a revised determination being made in The intention for the review is to enable the ECS determination to better cater for challenges posed by new and emerging service offerings to Australian end-users. The current determination is predominantly based on analogue fixed line telecommunications services, augmented with mobile and satellite phone services, and needs to be reviewed more fully, with the emergence of the new services such as VoIP services. There are significant differences between the way traditional services operate and the way new and emerging services are deployed. For this reason, the Determination needs to be revised to ensure that the objectives set down in the TCPSS Act for the provision of emergency call services continue being met, as the transition to next generation networks, such as VoIP, takes place in Australia. In particular, the provision of information about the location of the caller and the identity of the caller using the service, will be considered when reviewing the ECS Determination. However, ACMA recognises the urgent need to clarify whether VSPs are required to provide customers with access to free emergency call services (Triple Zero (000) and 106). Accordingly, ACMA has decided to separate the two processes into two stages and in Stage 1 proceed with limited amendments to the ECS Determination reflecting the VoIP Report recommendations. ACMA is therefore seeking submissions on the draft amending Determination, as it relates to VSP obligations. 5

6 Discussion The definition of the emergency call service in the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) is expressed in technologically neutral terms and covers any call to an emergency service number. However, the ECS Determination has historically been based on the assumption of switched network infrastructure (PSTN, mobile), and on an ECP receiving some information from the network about the location of the caller. Two-way VoIP services 3 provide the ability for a call on an IP-based network to interconnect with all other telephony networks (PSTN, mobile, satellite) 4. All twoway VoIP services satisfy the connectivity test under section 6 of the TCPSS Act and are considered to be standard telephone services for the purposes of the Act and other subordinate legislation, including the ECS Determination. A dial-out only VoIP service allows a person using an IP-based network to make calls to other persons on other forms of telephony networks (PSTN, mobile, satellite), without the ability to receive calls. Therefore, in contrast to two-way VoIP services, dial-out only VoIP services are unlikely to pass the connectivity test because they do not allow an end-user to ordinarily communicate with the other end-users who have the same service for the same purpose 5. The suggested amendments to the ECS Determination aim to clarify the application of the SETS in regard to two-way and dial-out only VoIP services. From 31 May 2007, VSPs will have access to the new 0550 numbering range introduced by ACMA for VoIP services 6, in addition to geographic numbers. The amendments in the draft amending Determination are designed to apply to all twoway and dial-out only VoIP services regardless of which of the two number ranges is used. ACMA is aware that some VSPs have published disclaimers on their websites advising that their services do not provide access to emergency service numbers, implying or claiming that their services are not services that their customers would reasonably choose as a first choice to make an emergency call. The amendments to the ECS Determination seek to prevent this practice and ensure that all VSPs meet their regulatory obligations in regard to providing access to emergency service numbers from their VoIP services. To facilitate timely and accurate responses to calls for emergency assistance, ESOs require information about the location of callers at the time the calls are made, either provided from the IPND or by questioning of callers. The current nature of VoIP technology cannot identify the actual location of a caller with certainty. Nomadicity characteristics associated with VoIP calls can adversely affect the operation of emergency call services as an ESO cannot rely on the location information stored in the IPND to be the emergency location. ESOs must have confidence in the address in the IPND as providing the location of the caller or otherwise be made aware that they 3 i.e. VoIP services that can make calls to, and receive calls from, other telephones connected to the public telephone network. 4 Accordingly this category of VoIP services does not include peer-to-peer (P2P) or on-net VoIP services. 5 Under section 6(2) of the TCPSS Act; see also page 20 of the VoIP Report. 6 See Media Release on 26 April 2007 at 6

7 are dealing with a nomadic service, e.g. mobile or VoIP call, and therefore seek to confirm the location information. A degree of location information on VoIP services is provided through two identifiers: the IPND Alternate Address field is used to indicate whether or not the address in the IPND can be relied upon for the physical location of the caller 7 ; and Standardised Mobile Service Areas (SMSA) can be provided with VoIP services to indicate that a call is a VoIP call and to give an indication of the originating state or territory. Current practice of carriers or CSPs of using these identifiers on VoIP services is not consistent. The two identifiers are being provided by some VSPs, but not by all, in the broader VoIP market. The amendments detailed below clarify that the obligations to provide location information by way of the Alternate Address flag and SMSA coding extends to VSPs. ACMA would welcome quantitative or qualitative data and information on current services being provided and the relevance of definitions used in the draft amending Determination to these services. ACMA would also welcome views on the benefits to consumers of the proposed amendments as well as the expected costs to industry. Proposed Amendments Clarification of VoIP services coverage The draft amending Determination will introduce a new term called location independent communications services and will amend the SETS definition to cover location independent communications services, in addition to standard telephone services. It is intended that the definition of location independent communications service covers services that are potentially nomadic in character and includes both two-way and dial-out only VoIP services. A new section 17A will specify that a carriage service provider who supplies a location independent communications service must ensure that an emergency call using the service is delivered to the ECP. The draft amending Determination also specifically prevents the disclaimers of some VSPs that their service does not provide access to emergency services. A new subsection 8(5) will clarify that CSPs obligation to provide access to the emergency call service cannot be avoided by claiming that it does not supply a SETS or seeking a customer waiver. ACMA would welcome short, medium and long term views of interested parties on the implications of defining the LICS for the purposes of this determination. 7 The flag is set to true where the service address provided to the IPND may not be the physical location of the customer. 7

8 Alternate Address Flag The Alternate Address flag is an indicator in the IPND that provides information about whether the address in the IPND can be relied upon for the physical location of the caller. The Alternate Address flag has been defined in the draft amending Determination. The Alternate Address flag should be set to true where the service address provided to the IPND may not be the physical location of the caller. The flag thus alerts an emergency call operator that the operator should ask the caller for his or her location. The use of the Alternate Address flag is currently dealt with as a note in the ECS Determination. The draft amending Determination (subsections 24(3A) and 24A(3)) formalises the obligation for provision of location information by way of the Alternate Address flag and clarifies that this obligation extends to VSPs. A provider will comply with this obligation by setting the Alternate Address Flag to True where a service may not be at the location provided in the IPND. SMSA Codes The new subsection 30 (4A) extends the obligation to VSPs to provide location information by SMSA coding to the ECP. Relevant information that is available about the caller s approximate location must be given to the ECP in accordance with the documents: Industry Specification ACIF G629:2006 Interim VoIP Location Indicator for Emergency Services Signalling Specification; and Industry Guideline ACIF G557:2007 Standardised Mobile Service Area and Location Indicator Register. Referenced documents A number of referenced documents in the ECS Determination have been either replaced or revised over the time since the Determination was last amended. Section 30 and the notes to sections 19 and 22 are being amended to update these references. List of acronyms used ACMA CSP DCITA ECP ECS ESO IPND PSTN SETS Australian Communications and Media Authority carriage service provider Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts emergency call person Emergency Call Service emergency service organisation integrated public number database public switched telephone network standard emergency telephone service 8

9 SMSA TCPSS VoIP VSP Standardised Mobile Service Areas Telecommunications Consumer Protection and Service Standards Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP service provider 9