The FCC raised the reimbursement rates for telecom relay services...
The FCC raised the reimbursement rates for telecom relay services (TRS) above those recommended by the National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA), after deciding to include some costs that NECA had excluded. The FCC raised the overall TRS fund size…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
to $419.7 million for the year beginning July 1, 2006, compared with the $387.8 million recommended by NECA. The higher FCC number reflects, in large part, the agency’s decision to restore advertising and marketing expenses, which NECA recommended dropping. Advocates for hearing-impaired people had argued that advertising and marketing were important to make potential users aware of the relay services. The FCC said there has been confusion about the nature of these expenses, which sometimes are labeled “outreach,” so while the expenses have been restored for reimbursement, this action shouldn’t be interpreted as stopping the FCC in the future from deciding some of these costs aren’t eligible for compensation. For video relay service (VRS), the largest type of relay services, the FCC froze the current compensation rate until the Commission adopts a new rate based on new methodology and clarification of some other cost recovery issues. NECA had recommended reducing the rate. Pat Nola, CEO of Sorenson Communications, which provides VRS products, said the company had argued costs justified raising the reimbursement rate. However, the decision to freeze this year’s rate “is a positive preliminary step” while the FCC begins creating a new rate methodology. TRS reimbursement pays for the cost of providing services.