Sprint asked the FCC to reconsider its new IP captioned telephone service rate for provider compensation, which was cut from $1.95 per minute to $1.75 July 1 and will drop to $1.58 July 1, 2019 (see Notebook at end of 1806070021). The commission failed to rely on an updated record and fully assess reasonable IP CTS costs in setting "unreasonably low interim rates," said a petition posted in docket 13-24, one of several filings posted Monday and Friday on telecom relay service issues. Sprint urged the FCC to freeze the rate at $1.95 until it resolves fundamental questions. Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing largely backed a previous Sprint petition to clarify or reconsider an accompanying IP CTS ruling authorizing automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology (see 1807100066). "The Commission is putting the cart before the horse by allowing ASR-based IP CTS services without developing standards and metrics for the provision of IP CTS to ensure that consumers receive robust service from all providers," said the Hearing Loss Association of America, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI) and others. "Grant in significant part" the petition and lay out "the contours of a framework ... as a baseline for evaluating pending applications and others that are submitted," they advised. TDI, the National Association for the Deaf and Cerebral Palsy and Deaf Organization backed video relay service providers' petition (see 1806210011) for a limited waiver to serve new users or those ported from other providers, while verification is pending through a TRS user registration database, said the groups' filing in docket 10-51. ZVRS, parent of CSDVRS and Purple Communications, petitioned for a retroactive waiver of a requirement to file written notifications "of a change in a call center's location, including the opening, closing, or relocation of any center, at least 30 days prior to any such change."

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Application programming interfaces must be included in the Lifeline national verifier so carriers can help low-income fund recipients with enrollment, said a NARUC resolution passed Wednesday. NARUC cleared that and other resolutions on separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and precision agriculture (see 1807030052). NARUC is following the national verifier closely, with the API resolution setting up a big push planned for Lifeline Awareness Week this September, a spokesperson said.

The Florida Public Service Commission kept a 10 cent monthly surcharge on landline bills for telecom relay services while reducing the annual budget for the Florida Relay System administrator by almost $60,000. The commission trimmed legal and insurance expenses for Florida Telecommunications Relay, authorizing transfer of about $261,500 from a reserve account to cover any possible budget shortfall, the PSC said Tuesday.

Convo Communications joined a group of "enterprise users" in opposing an ITTA petition that asked the FCC to ensure carrier telecom relay service fund costs can be passed on to consumers through specific line-item fees, while AT&T and Verizon continued to back it. "As a deaf owned and operated company which provides [TRS], Convo is of the view that ITTA’s request to identify TRS as a line item description in customer bills subverts the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) mandate of telecommunications as a universally available service and consequentially would segregate and stigmatize TRS as a 'special' need which adds cost to ratepayers, but is done to provide a 'social' service for the disabled," said the video relay service provider's filing posted Thursday in docket 03-123. Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and other groups took no position on the petition proposal but said they "hope that the Commission, carriers, and other stakeholders will join accessibility organizations in making clear to the public that TRS is not just a regulatory fee, but a service that is beneficial to the general public because it allows all individuals to communicate with each other."

The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.

The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.

The FCC adopted new telecom relay service provider compensation rates for the funding year beginning July 1 and set a $1.5 billion budget for the TRS fund with an industry contribution factor of 2.8 percent of applicable telecom revenue. The new per-minute provider compensation rates "for interstate TRS,1 shall be: (1) for traditional TRS, $3.2592; (2) for speech-to-speech relay service (STS), $4.3902; and (3) for captioned telephone service (CTS), $2.0007," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order Friday in docket 03-123. It said the rates were based on the recommendations of the fund administrator RolkaLoube Associates and the agency's review of the relevant data. The per-minute compensation rate for internet-based TRS will be "for Internet protocol (IP) CTS, $1.75" and "for IP Relay, $1.40," the order said. The per-minute rates for video relay service providers are divided into tiers based on minutes of use: Emergent (1st 500,000 monthly minutes) for VRS providers with 500,000 or fewer minutes in a month, $5.29; Tier I (1st 1,000,000 monthly minutes) for VRS providers with more than 500,000 minutes in a month, $4.82; Tier II (1,000,001 to 2,500,000 monthly minutes), $3.97; and Tier III (monthly minutes exceeding 2,500,000), $2.83."

Telecom parties urged the FCC to ensure carrier telecom relay service fund costs can be passed on to consumers through specific related fees. AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA and USTelecom filed comments supporting an ITTA petition asking the commission for a declaratory ruling to clarify that it is and has been permissible under truth-in-billing rules and Communications Act Section 225 for carriers recovering TRS fund contribution costs to include related line-item fees on consumer bills. "Such action will provide regulatory certainty regarding a common and pro-consumer industry practice," CTIA said. But 16 "Enterprise Users Commenters" -- including 3M, Mastercard, Office Depot and Sears -- urged the FCC to deny the petition, which they said should have been filed as a petition for rulemaking and is substantively deficient. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 03-123.

Annual telecom relay service complaint log summaries are due July 2, covering June 1, 2017, through May 31, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau reminded state administrators and interstate TRS providers in a public notice in docket 03-123 in Monday's Daily Digest.

MachineGenius took issue with concerns of advocates for deaf consumers about an FCC order, declaratory ruling and notices draft on IP captioned telephone service (CTS) that seeks to authorize automated speech recognition (ASR) technology. "Many of their expressed concerns are poorly substantiated," said a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-24. Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc. (TDI) and others had said (see 1805300048) the draft's "approach of delegating to the Bureau the responsibility of applying the existing TRS [telecommunications relay service] minimum standards to IP CTS applicants proposing to use ASR does not acknowledge that the minimum standards are replete with explicit references to human communications assistants (CAs)," said MachineGenius, which is seeking to be certified an IP CTS provider. "On the contrary, the Declaratory Ruling explicitly and extensively addresses the role of [CAs], and the fact that the CA role may be limited or nonexistent in an ASR-based IP CTS solution, concluding that 'the definition of IP CTS in our rules does not specify how captions must be generated.'" The draft "observes that 'use of [ASR] technology for IP CTS without CA involvement does not fundamentally change the functional role of the service.' ... In this context [,] the Declaratory Ruling authorizes the approval of ASR-based IP CTS applications." TDI didn't comment. Hamilton Relay pressed the FCC to move all draft ARS and notice of inquiry issues to the Further NPRM, and to freeze the IP CTS rate at $1.75 per minute for two years if the current rate methodology is junked. Hamilton is concerned about the draft declaratory ruling's "failure to address emergency call handling in an ASR environment," said a filing on a meeting with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel. "Legal problems [are] raised by the determination in the draft Declaratory Ruling that ASR is a reimbursable form of IP CTS."