Unexpectedly fast growth of IP and video relay services (VRS) requires an increase in the Interstate Telecom Relay Service (TRS) fund, the National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA) told the FCC in a Feb. 23 letter. NECA said in May it forecast 28% growth for IP and 30% for VRS for the 2003-2004 funding year. However, “actual minutes… significantly outpaced projections and revised growth rates to 79% annually/6.6% monthly for IP and 196% annually/16.34% monthly for VRS,” NECA said. NECA said an increase in the TRS fund to $170.5 million from $115.5 million was needed “to meet the increase in IP and VRS provider payment requirements.”

The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., said Fri. it was “befuddled” by an FCC order allowing Qwest to charge toll fees to a paging company, so it remanded the case. At issue was an FCC decision dismissing Mountain Communications’ complaint against Qwest for charging toll fees for the paging company’s calls that originated and terminated in the same calling area but were routed through a point of interconnection (POI) in another local area. The court, in an opinion written by Judge Laurence Silberman, said the FCC had taken what appeared to be the opposite position in a similar case, TRS Wireless v. U S West. Silberman wrote that, in the TRS case, the FCC “rejected a similar effort on the part of [an] LEC to charge a paging carrier for transmitting calls to the paging carrier’s POI, where the POI and the caller are in the same LATA but different local calling areas.” Although the FCC had made a distinction between the 2 cases, the court said “we are befuddled at the Commission’s efforts to explain away its TRS decision; the facts seem -- and are conceded to be -- identical, but the results are opposite.” Judges David Sentelle and Merrick Garland also were on the panel.

Content aggregation company TvHead unveiled the TvHead Games channel for cable TV services. The Los Altos, Cal., company, started by videogame industry executives, said it had signed licensing deals with “major game creators,” and the channel would be provided “as part of a suite of services for cable system operators.” The TvHead Games channel will be “a full-service destination for games enthusiasts that can be deployed as an operator-branded service or as a standalone channel, [and] will offer more than 40 single and multiplayer games at launch in first quarter, 2004, as well as a wide range of community features,” the company said. TvHead said it also would “offer games aggregation services designed to assist cable operators creating their own games services to maximize subscriber use and revenue.” The company said it had signed deals -- terms not disclosed -- with companies including Gamer.tv, Midway Games and PopCap Games. TvHead said it had “the rights to develop a diverse library of brand name titles including award winning online games Diamond Mine and Bookworm, [the] multiplayer game Dinky Bomb and classic arcade hits Rampage, Gauntlet and SmashTV for interactive television delivery.” The company said it now was working with ICTV on development of content for the latter’s HeadendWare centralized digital interactive platform. TvHead CEO Sangita Verma said: “This is the first of several partner [announcements] over the coming months as we rapidly build up our games library.” TvHead Chief Creative Officer Robert Craig, who co-founded the company with Verma, said game revenue via interactive TV was “projected to be as high as $2.7 billion by 2006, [and] interactive television offers cable system operators a way to immediately gain a share of that revenue.” The company said it had “developed patent-pending technologies that enhance interactive television features, including chat and multiplayer gaming.” Verma was gen. mgr. of Midway Games’ handheld business division and dir. of its worldwide syndication. Craig designed and created games for “dozens of gaming platforms starting with the TRS-80 computer, Commodore 64, Atari 2600 and expanding to Internet, wireless, location-based systems and interactive television,” TvHead said, adding that he was “the No. 3 hire at Sony Computer Entertainment, [and] helped launch the PlayStation hardware.” TvHead said Craig started his gaming career in 1982 “when he sold his first TRS-80 game at the age of 17 [and], since then, he has worked with several leading game companies including Atari, Sony, Sega, Activision, Data East and Midway Games.”

The FCC proposed an $806,861 fine against Globcom, a Northbrook, Ill., long distance reseller, for not making Universal Service Fund (USF) and Telecom Relay Service (TRS) contributions. The Commission said Tues. that Globcom owed $700,000 to the USF as of Aug. and hadn’t satisfied its obligation to contribute to the TRS Fund, which helps people with hearing or speech disabilities use the telephone system. The agency said Globcom apparently underreported its revenue to the Commission “and at times failed to report revenue information at all.” That information is used by the FCC to calculate carriers’ USF and TRS payments. The FCC Enforcement Bureau said this is the largest fine ever proposed for such violations and FCC Chmn. Powell said it’s “an important step in preserving the integrity of the Universal Service Fund by sending a signal to carriers who shirk their duty to pay their fair share.” The agency said it increased the normal level of fines because “it appears that Globcom deliberately chose not to pay its universal service contributions each month for revenues derived from January 1, 2001, to the present.” The Commission said that despite “numerous monthly communications” from the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), Globcom had “done nothing to address this matter.” It also ordered Globcom to submit a report in 30 days outlining its plans for coming into compliance with the rules. Globcom can seek a reduction or cancellation of the fine in that 30-day period but the agency warned it wouldn’t take inability to pay as an excuse without federal tax returns, financial statements or other objective documentation.

The FCC asked for comments by Sept. 10 on a Sprint request for approval to offer pay-per-call services to telecom relay service (TRS) users via a special 900 number. The Commission said Sprint’s petition contended that pay-per- call services couldn’t be accessed via 711 as required. Sprint said in the petition that “711 uses a toll-free dialing sequence and pay-per-call sequences can’t be accessed using a toll-free dialing sequence,” the FCC said. Sprint would offer the 900 number without charge. Replies are due Sept. 25.

The FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau said July 1 the deadline for state and telecom relay service (TRS) providers to submit their annual consumer complaint log summaries for the 12-month period ending May 31.

Telecom relay services (TRS) used by consumers with hearing or speech disabilities could be integrated into the FCC’s homeland security efforts, the Commission said at its agenda meeting Thurs. The Commission tentatively concluded that those facilities should receive the same National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) priority under the Telecom Service Priority (TSP) System as LECs. However, “our efforts are in no way complete,” Chmn. Powell said: “Developments central to our national security bring new considerations in our efforts to ensure functionally equivalent communications for hearing-impaired and speech- impaired individuals.”

The National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA) proposed increasing the size of the Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) Fund to $132.4 million, $42.1 million more than the current fund. NECA said the 46% increase was required because of a “significant demand” for IP relay service and rising demand and cost of providing video relay service. The TRS enables persons with hearing and speech disabilities to make phone calls to people using standard telephones. The cost is funded by telecom carriers, based on their interstate and international revenue. NECA administers the TRS fund for the FCC.

Comsat no longer is required to contribute to the Telecom Relay Services (TRS) Fund, the FCC said in an order released Thurs. Consequently, the Commission ordered that Comsat be refunded the more than $500,000 it had contributed to the fund. The former Common Carrier Bureau had ordered that part of the company’s revenue from leasing satellite capacity would go to the fund supporting hearing and speech- impaired individuals. Comsat contributed to the fund at the same time as it argued that its services didn’t qualify as an interstate telecom service, the FCC said. It said that in reviewing Comsat’s arguments, it found the company was correct because “the satellite operator ‘merely provides its customer with the exclusive right to transmit to a specified piece of hardware on the satellite.'”

In accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), FCC adopted latest order eliminating coin-sent paid requirement and encouraging specific outreach and education programs to inform telecom relay services (TRS) users of their options when placing calls from payphones. Commission said carriers needn’t provide coin sent-paid TRS calls from payphones because “it is infeasible to provide coin sent-paid relay service through payphones at this time, and the coin sent-paid functionality is not necessary to achieve functional equivalence.” In joint statement, FCC Chmn. Powell and FCC Comr. Abernathy said they were “pleased that carriers have agreed to make permanent the interim plan requiring them to carry local TRS calls from payphones free of charge. A key part of the permanent plan is the consumer outreach and education component.” However, they said, if those voluntary outreach measures didn’t succeed in giving TRS users information they needed, they would support adoption of mandatory outreach requirements. Comr. Copps said he supported Commission’s maintaining rule requiring carriers to provide free local TRS calls. However, he said “the [Commission] majority” didn’t require that carriers provide alternatives for toll calls at rates equal to or less than coin rate. He said it eliminated entirely requirement that carriers provide coin TRS calls from payphones and made it “even more difficult for consumers by eliminating requirements for outreach to inform consumers of the least expensive option.”