The FCC adopted new ways to compensate providers of telecommunica...
The FCC adopted new ways to compensate providers of telecommunications relay services that commissioners called fair, simple and more “predictable” than the current system. The FCC adopted a rate plan by TRS provider Hamilton Relay for some relay services.…
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.
It adopted one based on price caps for IP relay and for Video Relay Service it adopted a “tiered” compensation system in which rates fall based on call volume. VRS provider Sorenson Communications said it likes the system’s predictability. “The stable and predictable multi-year rate established by the FCC will allow Sorenson Communications to make the necessary longer-term investments to increase access to VRS for more deaf individuals, train new interpreters and [improve] VRS technology,” said Sorenson President Pat Nola. The compensation rate isn’t a price charged to users but determines what providers get from the TRS Fund, the FCC order said. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein praised part of the order that provides compensation for “outreach” to alert disabled people to new services like speech-to-speech. “The message was clear from providers and consumers alike that the Commission needed to improve its administration of the Fund and to increase awareness of these critical services,” Adelstein said.