The FCC has backed off its earlier requirement that Internet telephony providers must cut off existing customers if they do not have Enhanced 911 emergency dialing service.

In a policy statement released late Monday, the FCC said VoIP providers do not have to cut off customers if they have not met an FCC deadline to provide Enhanced 911, or E911, service by Nov. 28. E911 service pinpoints the street address of a 911 call coming into an emergency dispatch center. However, some VoIP providers had raised concerns that E911 would be hard to implement with VoIP phones that keep their telephone numbers wherever they are plugged into the Internet.

However, the FCC's Monday statement tells VoIP providers they should stop marketing their service to customers if they cannot provide E911 service. "We do expect that such providers [not offering E911] will discontinue marketing VOIP service, and accepting new customers for their service, in all areas where they are not transmitting 911 calls," the FCC policy statement said.

VoIP providers and some U.S. lawmakers had questioned the FCC's decision to cut off service, saying service interruptions would leave VoIP customers with no way to contact emergency dispatch centers. In August, the FCC had delayed a requirement that VoIP providers cut off service from those customers that do not respond to notices telling of the limits of 911 service over VoIP.

Late last month, VoIP provider Nuvio filed a court challenge to the Nov. 28 deadline, set in June. The FCC's short deadline was "arbitrary and capricious," said Jason Talley, president and CEO of Nuvio, a VoIP provider based in Kansas.

While the FCC's action Monday backed away from the service cut-off requirement, Talley objected to the ruling that VoIP providers stop marketing service when they cannot provide E911. That decision will hurt VoIP providers trying to compete with large telecom carriers offering traditional phone service, he said.

"It smacks of protectionism of the [large telecom carriers] and the cable companies," Talley said of the marketing rules. "It's the FCC picking and choosing which technologies they want to support and which technologies they want to succeed."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.