Rolka Loube Associates asked the FCC to reconsider the start date and rates for video relay service trials of skills-based call routing for legal, medical and technical support. The Telecom Relay Service fund administrator noted trials were authorized March 23 (see 1703230055) and providers were required to announce by June 1 whether they would participate, but the commission didn't set new VRS rates until July 6 (see 1707060062). No providers have enrolled, "presumably because they did not yet know what the compensation rate would be," said a Rolka Loube recon petition Thursday in docket 10-51 on behalf of the Interstate TRS Advisory Council. The council "is deeply concerned that the standard compensation rates for skills-based routing of calls are insufficient to cover the VRS providers’ costs," the filing said. The council "is concerned that the trial will never launch" unless the FCC allows providers "to receive a compensable rate" for offering "more sophisticated services."

Sprint will continue to provide telecom relay service in Florida to about 3 million deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired people, under a three-year contract revealed Thursday, the Public Service Commission said in a news release. The PSC issued a request for proposal in May and got responses from Sprint and Hamilton Relay, it said. Sprint’s proposal earned a higher technical rating and the company proposed a lower per-minute price, it said. The contract includes options for four one-year extensions.

The World Customs Organization issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​​

The FCC asked states to file by Oct. 1 if they want to continue running their own telecom relay service (TRS) programs. Current five-year certifications will expire July 25, 2018, and while there's no deadline for seeking recertification, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau requested applications be filed by Oct. 1 to give the commission time to review them, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 03-123. The PN said the bureau would seek comment on applications.

The FCC set a new four-year schedule for video relay service compensation rates, effective from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2021, that will cut the rate covering some calling minutes of Sorenson Communications, the largest provider. The commission order released Thursday set a four-tier VRS rate structure, following up on the 2013-2017 schedule that drove down rates. As of June 30, for providers with fewer than 500,000 monthly minutes, the rate was $4.82 per minute. For other providers, the per-minute rate was: for Tier I (first 500,000 monthly minutes), $4.06; for Tier II (second 500,000 monthly minutes), $4.06; and for Tier III (monthly minutes exceeding 1 million), $3.49.

FCC staff adopted telecom relay service compensation rates for the funding year that began Saturday, while keeping existing video relay service rates until the commission implements new rates, which Sorenson Communications and rival, smaller VRS providers have hotly contested. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau also adopted a $1.328 billion funding requirement for the TRS Fund and an assessment factor of 2.29 percent of interstate and international end user revenue for telecom carriers and other providers contributing to the fund, said the order released Friday in docket 03-123 and listed in Monday's Daily Digest.

FCC staff adopted telecom relay service compensation rates for the funding year that began Saturday, while keeping existing video relay service rates until the commission implements new rates, which Sorenson Communications and rival, smaller VRS providers have hotly contested. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau also adopted a $1.328 billion funding requirement for the TRS Fund and an assessment factor of 2.29 percent of interstate and international end user revenue for telecom carriers and other providers contributing to the fund, said the order released Friday in docket 03-123 and listed in Monday's Daily Digest.

Sorenson Communications criticized ZVRS video relay service proposals to the FCC as seeking "de facto provider-specific VRS rates, both through its proposed tier rates and volume levels and in its contention that it must be permitted to 'double-dip' the tiers by applying them separately to each of its operating subsidiaries." Sorenson was reacting to filings this month in docket 10-51 by ZVRS, parent of CSDVRS and Purple Communications. ZVRS cited no commission precedent permitting "competitors offering the same services in the same geographic areas to charge different rates when the only ascertainable difference in underlying costs is that one provider is more efficient," said a Sorenson filing posted Thursday. "Yet that is exactly what ZVRS proposes -- that the Commission adopt rate tiers constructed deliberately to provide higher compensation to ZVRS, the second largest operator of VRS across the country, even though the cost differences on which ZVRS bases its request are entirely related to efficiency, i.e., claimed economies of scale." Sorenson said there's "simply no way that ZVRS’ plea for special treatment based on its own inefficient cost structure can be reconciled with [Communications Act] Section 225’s requirement that TRS [telecom relay service] be provided 'in the most efficient manner.'" ZVRS didn't comment. A draft FCC order would set new VRS compensation rates; the current rates expire Friday (see 1706280038).

An FCC draft order would set new video relay service compensation rates, a commission official and industry representative told us Wednesday. The agency's four-year schedule of VRS rate reductions expires June 30, and providers have offered conflicting proposals.

The FCC is still considering how to address rates for video relay services and other telecom relay services, with the VRS/TRS funding year expiring June 30, parties to the proceeding told us. "As far as I can tell, they're still trying to figure out what they're going to do," said an industry representative Wednesday. Both Sorenson Communications and smaller VRS rivals -- which have made conflicting rate proposals -- are concerned about possible agency actions. "We are continuing to work to resolve the issues," an FCC spokesman emailed.