Vonage Turns Up VoIP E911 in Contra Costa, Calif.
August 11th, 2006 - Posted in VoIPVonage announced today that its VoIP service subscribers in Contra Costa County, Calif. are now equipped with E911. This feature associates a physical address with the calling party’s telephone number automatically.
In addition to Contra Costa, which includes key San Francisco Bay Area based cities, such as Mountain View, Concord, San Ramon and Walnut Creek,Vonage ( News - Alert) recently turned up E911 at more than 400 locally run emergency call centers across the U.S. in less than three months, bringing the total percentage of Vonage U.S. subscriber lines that have E911 to over 84 percent.
“Turning up Contra Costa County is a great step for Vonage, as those individuals who have subscribed to Vonage’s flat-rate, feature-rich calling plans in one of our Nation’s tech hubs, will now have full E911 capability,†said Vonage’s chairman and chief strategist Jeffrey A. Citron in a statement. “In just three months, Vonage was able to equip over 400 more locally run calling centers with E911. Vonage will continue to work with theFCC , regulators, Congress and public safety until PSAPs across the nation are equipped with E911.â€
Providers had to step up to the plate and get their E911 access up and running after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered they do so back in June last year. The agency gave the companies 120 days to complete the difficult task. Vonage worked closely with local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), across the country to turn on E911 for as many customers as quickly as it could. Vonage is currently testing new PSAPs which are VoIP-ready every day.
Vonage made news last week as it reported losses for this year’s second quarter. Despite adding a whopping 256,000 subscribers during the quarter, the company reported losses totaling $74 million during this period, due mostly to operational and marketing costs.
The provider reported having added 1,005,000 net subscriber lines during the 12 months ending on June 30, 2006. Vonage ended the second quarter with over 1,853,000 total subscriber lines, an increase of 16 percent from the prior quarter and 119 percent above the year-ago level. The company’s report also showed that its second quarter 2006 revenue grew to $143 million, up 21 percent from the prior quarter and up 141 percent from the year-ago quarter.
Vonage Holdings Corporation
http://www.vonage.com