1. Henning Schulzrinne Columbia University
Musings on funding
Henning Schulzrinne
Columbia University

2. Funding – many different facets
Easy to talk past each other
People talk about:
incremental investment for supporting VoIP (as in wireless)
note: if number of wireless + analog subscribers stays roughly constant, total 911 call volume unlikely to change much
on-going support of operational costs
as landline and wireless revenue decreases
making VoIP users pay for 911
fairness, long-term sustainability, slowing down competition, …

3. Some general ideas Avoid technology-specific funding models
wireless vs. wireline vs. VoIP
converging long-time  don’t want to re-do every few years
long regulatory lag
may be necessary for transition period
Don’t assume VoIP = wireless
VoIP: “carrier” doesn’t have to exist
every mid-to-large size business is likely to be its own VSP
VSP may be outside the United States (particularly if regulatory compliance becomes expensive)
Many more VSPs than the few national wireless carriers
Avoid systems that invite fraud and padding
see e-stamp program for schools and libraries
Keep collection costs reasonable
already, taxes approaching 20% of phone bills
tempting – since costs are borne by consumers, not 911 system

4. Make it easy to do the right thing
Even small VSPs are likely to have customers in many, if not most, states
Don’t force every VSP to send $13.75 monthly checks to 3,000 counties or 6,000 PSAPs
worse: with different rates, line-count cut-offs, etc.

5. The design space Look at all options, not just existing familiar ones:
state/local taxes
VSP fees
ISP fees
utility (water, electricity) fees
equipment charges
911 as service
State or local taxes
already fund police, fire, ambulance
already fund large parts of 911 in some states
existing collection mechanisms
(mildly) progressive
other mechanisms penalize large families, for example
but: easy to forget about niche needs

6. Source: VSP and ISP charges
may have sparse customer population
unlikely to be regulated
may be outside the US
may be difficult to map customers to tax regions
users could have any number of VSPs (particularly if they offer different services, on-demand international dialing, etc.)
ISP (facilities-based):
generally, more regional (or large, like ILECs and MSOs)
has knowledge of physical location of customer
usually, finite number of ISPs per customer
but: penalize users with multiple ISPs
or users that don’t use their ISP for emergency calls or VoIP at all
charge modem users, too?
ISP (resale):
common for modems  few ISPs own their own infrastructure
resell dial-in access using shared equipment
similar problems as VSP

7. Source: Utilities Other utilities (water, gas, electric)
most households have at least electric service
and usually one of each
regulated utility
already collects franchise fees and similar locality-based taxes
knows customer service location
you need electricity to place a VoIP call 

8. Source: equipment fee Collected when purchasing VoIP devices
Similar to tape and CD-R charges today
Avoids tax collection problems
Problems:
assumes only voice as service (not bad for mid-term)
assumes few softphones
if fees are large, encourage black imports
but shipping charges discourage shipping phones from Europe and Asia one by one
estimate: 50c/month  $24 for expected 4-year lifetime

9. 911 as service
Even if VSP or ISP does not offer 911 service, user could separately subscribe to specialized VSP that offers only emergency calling service
relatively easily implemented technically
but more difficult with “locked down” equipment
Probably only a transition scenario
“911 service for $9.95/year – we take Visa and MasterCard”
service then sends money to 911 system
credit card address as first-order approximation to service location
probably need some kind of certification that service is legitimate

10. Conclusion
New technology = new chances for a more rational design of funding
Need solid estimates of incremental costs
Don’t penalize jurisdictions that fund via general revenue