VoIP must cover emergency calls

Internet telephony services will have to offer access the UK's emergency services from September 2008, Ofcom has ruled.

The decision was made after Ofcom research found that just over three-quarters of VoIP users who cannot access emergency numbers, thought they could, or were unsure.

Ofcom said this could be dangerous in an emergency as people could waste vital time trying to make calls via online services before realising they were unable to.

The ruling 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.

Welcoming the move, Kerry Ritz, UK managing director of internet telephony provider Vonage, told Computeractive: "We have been working closely with Ofcom with this issue and fully support the initiative.

"The 2008 deadline should also give providers plenty of time to put these requirements into their services. By implementing emergency calls we can push this technology further into the mainstream."