FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an order Monday for the Nov. 19 commissioners’ meeting that would bar providers from using USF support to buy from suppliers deemed a threat to national security. Pai mentioned Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1910280021). FCC officials said the order singles out those two. Pai proposes to seek comment on rules requiring eligible telecom carriers remove from their networks existing equipment from the suppliers and on how to provide financial assistance to carriers to help them transition to a trusted supplier.

Telecom relay services (TRS) equipment providers sparred over ZVRS/Purple Communications attempts to give Convo video relay service (VRS) customers incentives to port to the ZVRS/Purple home VRS product, posted Tuesday in FCC docket 03-123. ZVRS included an email from a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau official directing the company to file, memorializing emails where Convo asks for clarification of whether giveaways of TRS equipment is permissible. ZVRS warned Convo its practice of "misinforming the community through several mediums that ZVRS and Purple's Complete Home Package offering is a violation of FCC rules and policies" was tortuous interference with its customer relationships. Convo accused ZVRS/Purple of spending millions of dollars "solely to buy market share by incenting other VRS providers' customers to port them through free expensive consumer electronics that ultimately will be paid by the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund." Convo said the giveaways "are not compliant with FCC rules regarding impermissible financial incentives" and could undermine TRS Fund long-term health.

Telecom relay services (TRS) equipment providers sparred over ZVRS/Purple Communications attempts to give Convo video relay service (VRS) customers incentives to port to the ZVRS/Purple home VRS product, posted Tuesday in FCC docket 03-123. ZVRS included an email from a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau official directing the company to file, memorializing emails where Convo asks for clarification of whether giveaways of TRS equipment is permissible. ZVRS warned Convo its practice of "misinforming the community through several mediums that ZVRS and Purple's Complete Home Package offering is a violation of FCC rules and policies" was tortuous interference with its customer relationships. Convo accused ZVRS/Purple of spending millions of dollars "solely to buy market share by incenting other VRS providers' customers to port them through free expensive consumer electronics that ultimately will be paid by the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund." Convo said the giveaways "are not compliant with FCC rules regarding impermissible financial incentives" and could undermine TRS Fund long-term health.

The FCC's definition of telecommunications relay service (TRS) was updated to remove the specification that one of the parties to a TRS call must be a hearing person, to meet the standards of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, its Consumer Bureau said in an order in docket 03-123 and in Monday's Daily Digest. The change recognizes that "achieving communication between two individuals who have speech or hearing disabilities requires more than one type of relay service." Comments on an accompanying Further NPRM will be due 21 days after Federal Register publication, replies 14 days later, on a proposal to eliminate the equal access and multiple billing requirements for the TRS program, and to cease FR publication of state requests for TRS program certification, but the FCC would still publish them on its website.

Sprint began telecom relay and captioned telephone services for Nevada Sunday, it said Tuesday.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended temporary waivers of telecom relay service mandatory minimum standards for Sprint and Hamilton Relay, said an order released Tuesday in docket 03-123. The extension is until “the earlier of August 24, 2020, or the effective date of a Commission decision as to the continuing application of the waived standards to the affected relay services,” the order said. The standards require state-program TRS providers to offer consumers their choice of long distance carrier and alternative billing options for TRS calls. The waivers were extended once, and were to expire Saturday.

The World Customs Organization released its updated Time Release Study (TRS) guide, the WCO said in a news release. "The WCO Time Release Study is a strategic and internationally recognized tool to measure the actual time required for the release and/or clearance of goods, from the time of arrival until the physical release of cargo, with a view to finding bottlenecks in the trade flow process and taking necessary measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures," the WCO said. "The updated version of the WCO TRS Guide, known as the 'Guide to Measure the Time required for the Release of Goods (Version 3)' incorporates a number of key features/elements. It brings forward new dynamics and opportunities for Customs Administrations to work in a collaborative manner with other relevant government agencies and trade stakeholders in the arena of performance measurement."

Mutliline telephone systems (MLTS) providers and equipment vendors proposed changes in how the FCC implements new laws on better 911 access, in recent ex parte correspondence in docket 18-261. The commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on a draft report and order circulated in mid-July on implementing Ray Baum's Act (see 1902150036) and Kari's Law Act of 2017 (see 1907090047) to provide better location identification to emergency workers who take phone calls from apartment buildings, offices and other multi-unit spaces and to ensure callers who use MLTS phones can reach 911 quickly (see 1812110025).

The FCC adopted a 2019-2020 funding requirement of $1.4 billion to compensate telephone carriers for telecommunications relay services used by persons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or have speech difficulties, it said in a docket 03-123 order Friday. It also ordered new compensation rates, effective Monday, of $3.11 per minute for traditional TRS, $4.24 for speech-to-speech relay, and $2.28 for captioned telephone service. Separate rates were set for IP-enabled services (see 1905290047). The order also sets a carrier contribution factor of .028 for FY 2019-2020, starting Monday. A Friday statement from Chairman Ajit Pai said that recent changes in the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund will save nearly $409 million over the coming funding year, and spending for the fund is expected to decline for the first time since 2014 "even as overall TRS minutes increase."

Procedures for a telecom relay service numbering directory to help validate TRS users and require that video relay service providers promote their services only to people with disabilities, are effective July 8, the FCC says for Thursday's Federal Register. Stakeholders fear such rules could restrict access (see 1905030029).