FCC ordered hearing before administrative law judge to determine ...
FCC ordered hearing before administrative law judge to determine whether Publix Companies illegally collected more than $6 million from national Telecom Relay Service (TRS) Fund by seeking reimbursements without providing TRS service. Publix is group of 5 associated companies.…
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Hearing -- date and place haven’t been set yet -- will look at whether Publix is entitled to any of TRS money requested or received, whether its common carrier operating authority should be revoked, whether fine is warranted and, if so, how much. TRS provides telephone services to people with hearing or speech disabilities and TRS Fund reimburses carriers for cost of providing interstate TRS. FCC said random audit in 2001 by National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA), which administers TRS, “raised significant questions of whether [Publix Companies] relay operations qualified them for the TRS Fund payments that they had requested and received.” For example, Publix’s relay operation handled few calls, mostly among Publix employees, and operated only Mon.-Fri. during business hours, rather than 24 hours daily, 7 days a week. Average length of calls and volume of minutes reported by Publix also was “suspicious,” Commission said. FCC Enforcement Bureau subpoenaed Publix records in June 2001 and told NECA to withhold funding. FCC said “it appears that the Publix Companies did not actually provide TRS as defined by the Commission’s rules, thus raising a threshold issue about their eligibility for compensation… Moreover, there appears to be pervasive misconduct and violations of Commission rules by the Publix Companies.”