Own-initiative enforcement programme into VoIP providers’ compliance with General Condition 4 (Emergency Call Numbers) | Ofcom

Own-initiative enforcement programme into VoIP providers’ compliance with General Condition 4 (Emergency Call Numbers) | Ofcom

The Communications Act has a set of General Conditions that all communications providers must adhere to. On Sept 8th 2008 General Condition 4 amendments mean that all VoIP providers who provide access to the PSTN (i.e. public phone network) MUST provide 999/112 services.

Ofcom today have started an enforcement initiative that will collect information from VoIP providers, network operators and call handling agents (who pass calls to the Emergency Services) so they can monitor and if necessary enforce compliance.

This could be a major headache for smaller VoIP providers who may not be aware of their obligations under the Communications Act and this specifically may incur costs.