VoIP providers must allow 999 calls

 

Gallery

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 5 Dec 2007 at 14:36

VoIP firms must allow their customers to make emergency calls using their service, according to an Ofcom ruling.

The new rules will come into effect from 8 September 2008 and are designed to ensure that people aren't put in danger while trying to call emergency numbers through services that don't offer access to 999 or 112.

The decision follows Ofcom research which found that 78% of VoIP users who cannot access emergency numbers, thought they could, or were unsure.

The rules will apply to both "VoIP out" providers, which allow users to make calls to normal phone numbers but not receive them, and to "Two-way VoIP" providers, which allow users to make and receive calls to and from normal phone numbers.

Services that only allow users to call international numbers and Click to Call services, where users can only call a pre-selected number or limited set of numbers, are excluded.