CNet news is reporting that SBC’s VoIP service, which is being rolled out at present time, will be one of the first, if not the first, to come tapped into a coherent 911 service. This is because SBC, of which the SBC VoIP service is a subsidiary, also owns said 911 services.
In a time when VoIP services are being strictly scrutinized, and even sued, for failure to more easily provide 911 services, this gives SBC a strong competitive advantage.
Indeed, indy VoIP services are crying foul, claiming that the practice goes beyond ‘advantage’ to out and out ‘unfair’.
Not long ago, Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron sent letters to four national 911 services providers, including SBC, asking them to consider trial services through which Vonage could assure its customers of effective 911 services. SBC refused, and that, coupled with their “preferential” treatment of their own subsidiary is what is causing the indy uproar.
Put another way, people are upset because SBC is providing its service to its own business unit, and not to the competitor.
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Well, duh.
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Aunty, have you ever done any antitrust? I have. I can’t be sure without a lot more facts, but this sounds very much like what AT&T did to MCI a few years ago when AT&T would give MCI access to its local exchanges. If SBC’s 911 service is part of a regulated monopoly, it’s likely to end up on the short end of a treble damages judgment a little way down the road.