Telecom Officials Urge Caution For Orderly Transition to Internet Protocol Networks
Panelists highlighted the remaining challenges for bringing next generation 911 call centers online
WASHINGTON, Feb 4, 2026 – Three telecommunications companies cautioned against discontinuing copper telephone service without a coordinated effort between providers – and better incentive structures to ensure continued service.
Speaking at the INCOMPAS Policy Summit here on Wednesday, each member of the panel noted that most emergency calls still rely on copper technology to connect those in need with 911 dispatchers.
“911 traffic still depends on local interconnection, so while not a high quality connection, you have to have it in order to successfully deliver 911 calls,” said Greg Rogers, head of global policy and regulatory affairs with telecom provider Bandwidth. “As much as people want to be as aggressive as possible to move into an all-IP environment, you can’t do it so fast that you forget everything that goes into delivering emergency calls.”
Josh Ruby, general counsel of Granite Telecommunications, added that there could be problems were the FCC to permit a retirement of copper technology without the full transition of 911 call centers to next generation 911 internet protocol (IP) systems in advance, calls won’t get through.
Ruby said that lobbying from concerned parties has raised the significance of this issue before the FCC.
Barriers to transition
Panelists noted that one of the largest barriers for next generation 911 is the lack of uniform NG911 standards. They argued that the FCC should take the lead in establishing consistent nationwide standards.
“We shouldn't have 50 standards for 50 states, we should have one standard for the United States,” said Sean Sullivan, the vice president of product management and regulatory affairs at MetTel, a telecom company.
Beyond setting a “sunset” deadline for copper, Sullivan said he believed it would take financial incentives to providers for an orderly transition to occur.
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