The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls systems will undergo maintenance on Jan. 31 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The DTrade system will be unavailable to accept submissions during this time period. EFS, TRS, ELLIE and MARY will be unavailable, as will the www.pmddtc.state.gov website.

Sprint asked the FCC for a limited waiver of the agency’s Telecommunications Relay Services rules in order to permit federal video relay service toll-free “front door” phone numbers and 10-digit numbers into the Internet-based TRS Numbering Directory. “Permitting these federal ‘front door’ and ten-digit numbers into the database will increase the ability of taxpaying deaf and hard of hearing Americans to reach federal employees and will reduce the number of calls placed through the federal TRS fund,” Sprint said (http://bit.ly/1jaj4nH).

Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing community urged the FCC to take a targeted approach to help the hearing population understand the importance of video relay service and IP relay service. They also suggested the use of social media to inform individuals in the deaf and hard of hearing community of advancements in services, they said Friday during a meeting to establish an Internet-based Telecommunications Relay Service National Outreach Program (iTRS-NOP). Participants said they intend the NOP to help reduce the number of telephone hang-ups experienced by people making relay calls.

All State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) external systems (i.e., DTrade, TRS, EFS, Mary, and Ellie) and DTAS Online will be unavailable to industry from Jan. 3 at 5:00 p.m. until Jan. 6 at 6:00 a.m. due to system upgrades in support of modifications to USML Categories VI, VII, XIII, and XX, said DDTC (here). DDTC will update the DS2032, DSP Forms 5, 6, 61, 62, 73, and 74 as well as the Common Schema. DDTC will also conduct an Export Control Reform WEBEX presentation, in conjunction with the Society for International Affairs, on Jan. 8 at 2:00 p.m. (here).

The State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) notified industry (here) on Dec. 24 that all DDTC external systems (i.e., DTrade, TRS, EFS, Mary, and Ellie) and DTAS Online will be unavailable from Jan. 3, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. until Jan. 6, 2014 at 6:00 a.m. due to system upgrades in support of modifications to USML Categories VI, VII, XIII, and XX. The DS2032, DSP Forms 5, 6, 61, 62, 73, and 74 as well as the Common Schema will be updated. DDTC will provide additional information on the offline period and updates on Dec. 30, 2014.

The DDTC external systems DTrade, TRS, EFS, Mary, and Ellie, along with DTAS Online will be unavailable to industry users from 5 p.m. on Nov. 22 to an estimated 8 a.m. on Nov. 23. DDTC is implementing system upgrades in support of National Institute of Standards and Technology federal mandate to upgrade to Access Certificates for Electronic Services digital certificates. A revised web notice will be posted once all systems are back online and operations, said DDTC.

AT&T agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act when it knowingly overbilled the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Fund, the Justice Department said Thursday. The fund compensates IP Relay service providers for placing calls on behalf of hearing-impaired individuals. Justice had alleged that from December 2009 through December 2011, up to 80 percent of the calls AT&T claimed reimbursement for were ineligible because they didn’t originate in the U.S., or weren’t made by hearing- or speech-impaired people. AT&T’s communication assistants knew the service was being used largely by Nigerian fraudsters, Justice said. AT&T had entered into a consent degree in May with the FCC resolving similar allegations (CD May 8 p11), which were related to today’s announcement, Justice said. AT&T agreed then to pay $18.25 million to settle the FCC investigation. “We will not tolerate abuse of this system,” said Michele Ellison, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. “While we continue to deny the allegations, we concluded that the most productive course was to resolve what was left of the litigation through a voluntary settlement,” an AT&T spokesman said. “This concerns an exceptionally small line of business that we no longer offer."

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment on a request by Purple Communications regarding use of the Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service through Web or wireless technologies (http://bit.ly/19L50Ng). Purple requested the commission clarify that footnote 122 of the Video Relay Service reform order, stating that “calls that are completed using a technology that does not provide both inbound and outbound functionality are not compensable from the TRS Fund,” doesn’t apply when users access IP CTS through Web and wireless services. Purple said the footnote, if left intact, “would force Purple and other IP CTS providers to cease the provision of IP CTS using web and wireless applications,” as no technology currently allows inbound IP CTS over Web or wireless technologies to be captioned without some intermediary step. Comments on the petition are due 15 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 25 days later, in docket 10-51. Separately Monday, the commission released an order on IP CTS rules. (See separate report above in this issue.)

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment on a request by Purple Communications regarding use of the Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service through Web or wireless technologies (http://bit.ly/19L50Ng). Purple requested the commission clarify that footnote 122 of the Video Relay Service reform order, stating that “calls that are completed using a technology that does not provide both inbound and outbound functionality are not compensable from the TRS Fund,” doesn’t apply when users access IP CTS through Web and wireless services. Purple said the footnote, if left intact, “would force Purple and other IP CTS providers to cease the provision of IP CTS using web and wireless applications,” as no technology currently allows inbound IP CTS over Web or wireless technologies to be captioned without some intermediary step. Comments on the petition are due 15 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 25 days later, in docket 10-51. Separately Monday, the commission released an order on IP CTS rules (see separate report in this issue).

A coalition of advocacy and consumer groups for deaf and blind persons opposed multiple provisions of the FCC’s June order that would institute changes to the Video Relay Service (VRS) program, saying in comments released Tuesday that the order “may cause harm to the quality of VRS” (http://bit.ly/12mKIrd). The VRS order would reduce compensation rates to various-sized providers and created interoperability provisions to give users power to more easily choose providers and equipment. The groups said they believe there has been “no effort on the part of the Commission to compensate or reward providers for improving functional equivalency in VRS calls. The Commission needs to reward such competition-driven innovation even during any efforts to improve the efficiency of the VRS system.” The consumer groups coalition said they support overhaul of Internet-based telecommunications relay services (TRS), including decreasing the permissible wait time on Internet-based TRS services to 10 seconds. The groups support a provision in the VRS order that would allow a quarterly review of TRS Fund contribution, since that would “allow for flexibility in addressing increases or decreases in requests for reimbursement and projections of service requirements from TRS providers.” Sprint urged the FCC to consider ways to reform other forms of TRS as it did in the VRS order. The FCC’s goal of making VRS “an effective, efficient, and sustainable program for the future” applies to all forms of TRS, including IP Relay and IP Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS), Sprint said. It urged the FCC to “consider the unique characteristics of each service and user population in determining whether a particular regulation is appropriate for a particular form of TRS,” rather than applying direct copies of the VRS rules to other TRS forms. The FCC should designate separate sections of TRS rules for each service, and avoid “overly-broad blanket regulations” by ensuring that additional rules for Internet-based TRS forms are “tailored to address demonstrated needs,” Sprint said. The FCC should not extend registration and TRS User Registration Database requirements to IP Relay and IP CTS providers, as well as exclude IP CTS from the “national outreach regime” adopted for VRS and IP Relay, the telco said. The FCC should apply non-discrimination principles to all Internet-based TRS services, Sprint said. The FCC should establish “clear guidelines” regarding data providers submit to the TRS Fund administrator, it said (http://bit.ly/12mJ60s).