The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau sought comment Friday on a petition by Sorenson Communications and CaptionCall on allowable costs for providing telecommunications relay services (TRS). Comments are due April 14, replies April 28, in dockets 03-123 and 10-51. The redacted petition asks that allowable TRS costs include funds associated with “responding to and defending against FCC enforcement proceedings related to a provider’s compliance with the TRS rules” and "educating members of the U.S. Congress and other policymakers on the TRS program generally and a TRS provider’s operations specifically,” the bureau said. It noted that Sorenson filed a similar petition in 2023.

Teleperformance Group on Friday applied for “full certification” to provide video relay service eligible for compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay service fund. “Currently, ZP is operating pursuant to a conditional certification on an interim basis following the consummation of Teleperformance’s acquisition of ZP,” the company said in an application filed in docket 03-123.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Friday approved the applications of Applied Development and Sorenson for access to the telecommunications relay services numbering directory as qualified direct video entities. The agency allows TRS direct video providers to seek access to the directory “to enable more effective direct video communication using American Sign Language between consumers with hearing or speech disabilities and customer support call centers,” said the notice about Sorenson. Qualified providers must demonstrate “a legitimate need for such access and an awareness of its regulatory obligations,” it added: “These obligations include compliance with the rules and regulations governing [video relay services] providers’ access to and use of the Directory, the instructions of the TRS Numbering administrator, and the applicable standards pertaining to privacy, security, reliability, and interoperability.” The Applied Development notice has the same language.

Solen Ventures and IP-captioned telephone service (IP CTS) provider NexTalk want the FCC to grant conditional certification, allowing NexTalk to remain eligible for compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay service fund (TRS) fund following Solen's purchase of the company, said an application posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. That deal closed Dec. 13. Under acquisition terms, NexTalk will be dissolved and a new entity, NexTalk Software, will control its assets. The conditional certification would allow NexTalk Software “to remain eligible to receive compensation from the TRS Fund for providing its IP CTS under new ownership for an additional two years” while the FCC assesses its eligibility for full certification. FCC rules don’t allow certifications to provide internet-based TRS to be transferred to entities that don’t already hold it, and require such certifications as a condition for payment from the TRS fund. “Despite having received conditional authority in January 2024, NexTalk has yet to actually seek TRS funding, and will not do so unless and until the Commission approves this conditional application,” the filing said. “There have been no changes in NexTalk’s operations and the ways in which it will comply with TRS obligations. The only change is the new ownership and name change.”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in separate orders this week conditionally certified Nagish and InnoCaption to receive compensation from the interstate telecommunications relay services fund for providing IP relay service. However, the companies must demonstrate that their service “meets or exceeds” the commission’s minimum TRS standards. The authorizations run through Dec. 23, 2026, “or the date of grant or denial of full certification, whichever occurs earlier,” the orders said. “Nagish proposes to provide IP Relay on a fully automatic basis, i.e., using text-to-speech technology to deliver the IP Relay users’ communications to hearing call participants and using automatic speech recognition (ASR) to deliver hearing parties’ communications to IP Relay users, without any reliance on communications assistants (CAs),” the bureau said: “Nagish states that it has contracts with various vendors to render speech into text using ASR and can incorporate new ASR vendors as needed.” InnoCaption “proposes to provide IP Relay using either ASR-only or human stenographers, at the IP Relay user’s option, to transcribe the other party’s communications for the IP Relay user,” said the second order. “InnoCaption additionally proposes to use a text-to-speech engine in lieu of a CA to relay the IP Relay user’s text communications to the hearing party.”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Tuesday sought comment on changes to the telecommunications relay services that accessibility advocacy groups proposed in an August white paper. Comments are due Jan. 17, replies Feb. 18, in docket 03-123. The paper cites the “compelling need for Federal and state policymakers to proactively adapt TRS obligations and programs to reflect the evolution of the country’s analog telecommunications networks to IP-based networks.” TDIAccess, the National Association for State Relay Administration, Gallaudet University and Telecommunications Access of Maryland submitted the paper. According to the paper, “the transition to IP-based networks has caused substantial changes to the use of and demand for analog TRS, rendering some analog TRS obsolete for many uses, while such services continue to be the solutions of choice for parts of the affected community,” the bureau said: The groups assert that “alternative services need to be made available because ‘the transition from traditional analog communication systems to more advanced digital and IP-based networks is accelerating.’”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau approved conditional waivers for T-Mobile and Hamilton Relay on a rule requiring providers of text telephone-based telecom relay service to offer a service capable of communicating with devices using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. In 2022, T-Mobile asked that the FCC initiate a rulemaking eliminating the ASCII reference because it's "an obsolete and infrequently used format,” said an order in Monday’s Daily Digest. Hamilton filed in support, the bureau said. “In these particular circumstances, we find that, given ASCII’s technological obsolescence, the absence of significant demand for it, and the presence of viable alternatives, there is good cause to grant T-Mobile and Hamilton waivers of the requirement to offer TTY-based relay service in ASCII format,” the bureau said.

ClearCaptions raised concerns at the FCC about proposed consumer choice mandates in captioning delivery for IP captioned telephone service providers. In a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff, it asked that the commission instead issue a notice of inquiry to determine whether the feature is "in the best interest of IP CTS customers" and the Telecom Relay Service (TRS) Fund. The provider cited "significant challenges" in implementing the service and potential increased costs "without evidence that the proposed mandate would improve the accuracy of captions." ClearCaptions also sought guidance in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 03-123 about potential formatting variances when there's a validation failure with the telecom relay service user registration database.

The FCC proposal that mandates "consumer choice in captioning delivery method" for IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) providers could "hinder competition and innovation," ClearCaptions said in separate meetings with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Instead, ClearCaptions suggested launching a notice of inquiry that will "collect information to determine if such a feature is in the best interest of IP CTS customers," according to an ex parte filing Friday in docket 03-123. The company also expressed concern with the validation process for the telecom relay service user registration database (TRS-URD), saying the system "would not consider formatting variances as validation features."

The FCC’s Disability Advisory Committee met for the last time Friday under its current charter, approving reports from its three working groups (WGs), none of which was immediately available. The next DAC is slated for December, FCC officials said. A report from the WG on Best Practices for Quality Telecom Relay Service for Individuals with Multiple Disabilities emphasized that “functional equivalence does not mean the same thing to two people,” said co-Chair Cristina Duarte, InnoCaption director-regulatory affairs. “It is highly unique and what one person needs for accessibility in telecommunications is not necessarily what another person needs.” The report underlined the importance of offering flexible features, which can work with other app-based solutions. It also noted the need for education and outreach about services that are available and the importance of security, Duarte added. Another report, from the WG on the Use of AI to Caption Live Video Programming, examines the state of automatic speech recognition (ASR) and potential use of evolving technologies, said co-Chair Shadi Abou-Zahra, Amazon principal accessibility standards and policy manager. It considers cloud-based and on-premises ASR, examining “the pros and cons” of ASR based on the principles of accuracy, synchronicity, program completeness and placement, he added. A third report reviews online gaming accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the DAC an order that commissioners approved Thursday mandating 100% hearing-aid compatibility for phones sold in the U.S. (see 2410170030) is “a big deal” and “historic.” The HAC order “means that in the not too distant future hearing aid users will be able to consider any handset model for purchase rather than just a limited number of phones.” Rosenworcel noted she has backed the mandate for nearly 10 years. Change takes longer than the two-year term of any DAC, she said: It requires "a special level of patience and special kind of perseverance.” Technological innovation, said FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, potentially can “close the digital divide ... implement creative spectrum solutions ... improve public safety systems and ... foster a vibrant media ecosystem.” Everyone must feel these benefits, "including the disability community.” Gomez stressed the importance of “accessibility by design” for communications products and noted the HAC order. “This is a big deal, and it’s a crucial way that the FCC acted to make communications services accessible to all.” DAC last met in May (see 2405160051).