In appealing the Federal Communications Commission’s Nov. 28, 2005, deadline for enhanced 911 service readiness, voice-over-IP provider Nuvio has set its own deadline: Nov. 7. That’s the date at which Nuvio says it and other VoIP providers will have to begin notifying customers in advance of looming service disconnects if the court has not ruled on Nuvio’s appeal, since the FCC order forbids VoIP service that is not E911-compliant.

Having argued in its appeal that the FCC’s November deadline does not give VoIP providers enough time to enact E911 service, Nuvio filed a motion with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Aug. 4 to expedite its appeal, and it filed responses to the FCC’s response to that motion on Aug. 12. The company issued a press release Monday announcing its participation in the appeals process.

In its expedition motion, Nuvio pointed out the need to give customers as much advance notice as possible of service disconnections resulting from VoIP providers failing to meet the FCC’s deadline. “Among other things, disconnection of service will prevent those customers from placing 911 calls in an emergency, thereby apparently frustrating the core purpose of the [FCC’s E911] order,” Nuvio’s motion said.

Nuvio suggested the court hear the main brief of its appeal on Sept. 6, giving the FCC until Sept. 26 prepare its brief, though Nuvio said it could be ready sooner if necessary.

According to Randall Lowe, a partner in the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine who has worked with VoIP regulatory issues, Nuvio will not be able to present any new evidence--such as newfound difficulties in instituting E911 capabilities--in its attempt to win an appeal of the FCC’s order. Instead, Nuvio must argue that the FCC acted unreasonably when it authored the deadline, given the information the commission had at that time, or that VoIP providers were not allowed to make their case to the FCC before the deadline was set.

“To get a court to say that the FCC acted arbitrarily and capriciously is a very difficult thing to do,” Lowe said.

However, Lowe pointed out, the D.C. circuit court has a history of forcing the FCC to reconsider its own decisions, such as its ruling with regard to network unbundling regulations. “[The D.C. circuit court is] very hard on the FCC,” he said. “They’ve traditionally held the FCC to a very tight standard. If the court feels the commission has strayed outside that standard in this case, they’re not bashful in telling the FCC to go back and reconsider [its decisions].”