Britain sets out emergency rules for VoIP service providers

British communications industries’ regulator Ofcom has ruled that firms which route phone calls across the net (VoIP) must connect to emergency numbers 999 and 112.

999 or 112 is the European Union’s universal emergency number for mobiles and fixed lines. Prior to the new rule net phone firms in Britain have not been required to connect to the emergency numbers.

The new stipulation is needed to ensure that during an emergency people can summon help as quickly as possible, Ofcom said Friday.

This ruling applies to those firms which let customers call normal national phone numbers but not receive them or let customers make and take calls from normal phone numbers. These firms have until September 2008 to comply with the ruling, the watchdog said.