8x8 2009 Annual Report Download - page 22

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Our emergency and E-911 calling services are different from those offered by traditional wireline telephone companies
and may expose us to significant liability. There may be risks associated with limitations associated with E-911
emergency dialing with the 8x8 service.
Both our emergency calling service and our E-911 calling service are different, in significant respects, from the emergency
calling services offered by traditional wireline telephone companies. In each case, the differences may cause significant delays,
or even failures, in callers' receipt of the emergency assistance they need.
Traditional wireline telephone companies route emergency calls over a dedicated infrastructure directly to an emergency
services dispatcher at the Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP, in the caller's area. Generally, the dispatcher automatically
receives the caller's phone number and actual location information. While the E-911 service we have deployed in the United
States is designed to route calls in a fashion similar to traditional wireline services, our E-911 capabilities are not yet available
from all locations. In addition, the only location information that our E-911 service can transmit to a dispatcher at a PSAP is
the information that our customers have registered with us prior to the 9-1-1 call. A customer's registered location may be
different from the customer's actual location at the time of the call because customers can use the 8x8 service from any
broadband connection anywhere in the world.
We are currently deploying E-911 service that is similar to the emergency calling services provided to customers of traditional
wireline telephone companies in the same area. For those customers located in an E-911 area, emergency calls are routed,
subject to the limitations discussed below, directly to an emergency services dispatcher at the PSAP in the area of the
customer's registered location. The dispatcher will have automatic access to the customer's telephone number and registered
location information. If a customer moves their 8x8 service to a new location, the customer's registered location information
must be updated and verified by the customer. Until that takes place, the customer will have to verbally advise the emergency
dispatcher of his or her actual location at the time of an emergency 9-1-1 call. This can lead to delays in the delivery of
emergency services.
The emergency calls of customers located in areas where we are currently unable to provide E-911 service as described above
are supported by a national call center that is run by a third-party provider and operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
These operators still receive the customer's registered service location and phone number automatically, and coordinate
connecting the caller to the appropriate PSAP or emergency services provider and providing the customer's registered service
location and phone number to those local authorities, which can also delay the delivery of emergency services. In the event that
a customer experiences a broadband or power outage, or if a network failure were to occur, the customer will not be able to
reach an emergency services provider using our services.
Delays our customers may encounter when making emergency services calls and any inability of the answering point to
automatically recognize the caller's location or telephone number can result in life threatening consequences. Customers may,
in the future, attempt to hold us responsible for any loss, damage, personal injury or death suffered as a result of any failure of
our E-911 services. In late July 2008, the President signed into law the "New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement
Act of 2008." The law provides public safety, interconnected VoIP providers and others involved in handling 911 calls the
same liability protections when handling 911 calls from interconnected VoIP users as from mobile or wired telephone service
users. The applicability of the liability protections to our national call center solution is unclear at the present time. Also, we
may be exposed to liability for 911 calls made prior to the adoption of this new law although we are unaware of any such
liability.
In May 2005, the FCC unanimously adopted an order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or NPRM, which required VoIP
providers that interconnect with the PSTN, or interconnected VoIP providers, to provide enhanced 9-1-1, or E-911, service.
On November 7, 2005, the Enforcement Bureau of the FCC issued a notice to interconnected VoIP providers detailing the
information required to be submitted to the FCC in E-911 compliance letters due by November 28, 2005. In this notice, the
Enforcement Bureau stated that, although it would not require providers that had not achieved full E-911 compliance by
November 28, 2005, to discontinue the provision of interconnected VoIP services to any existing customers, it did expect that
such providers would discontinue marketing VoIP services, and accepting new customers for their services, in all areas where
they are not transmitting 9-1-1 calls to the appropriate PSAP in full compliance with the FCC rules. On November 28, 2005,
we began offering nomadic E-911 service to all of our customers with United States service addresses, and began charging
those customers an additional $1.99 per month plus any applicable local 9-1-1 taxes and surcharges effective January 1, 2006.
On November 28, 2005, we also modified the 8x8 account signup procedures to require service addresses to be entered and
validated, at the time an order for service is placed, to ascertain whether 8x8's nomadic E-911 service is available at that
address. On November 28, 2005, we also filed our E-911 compliance report which is available on the FCC's website, at