The FCC has adopted three Telecommunications Relay Services items circulated for a vote June 6, an FCC official told the FCC’s Disability Advisory Committee at a virtual meeting Tuesday. DAC didn’t act on any reports or take substantial action at the meeting. The FCC acted on T-Mobile Accessibility’s push for more sustainable TRS compensation rates (see 2206240047), said Eliot Greenwald, deputy chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Disability Rights Office. “We hope to be able to release those items very soon,” he said. “One item adopts a new compensation formula for IP relay,” he said: Another “addresses some of the issues that have arisen regarding pandemic waivers related to” the video relay service, including interpreters “working from home and calls from abroad to the United States. The third one addresses the contribution base for VRS and IP relay.” The IP Captioning Files Transmittal Working Group has called in experts to offer insights and is putting together a “drafting subcommittee of the willing” for an upcoming report, said Chair Kyle Dixon, NCTA deputy general counsel-program network policy. The WG was asked to “identify issues and best practices associated with the delivery and receipt of captioning files or full-length programming distributed online” he said. The WG will also “suggest solutions to increase the amount of captioned programming,” he said. The goal is to get the full WG a draft next week, he said. Lyle Ishida, chief of the CGB Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, updated DAC members on the FCC’s affordable connectivity program. He wants to “deputize all of you to supercharge awareness of the program using your existing contacts and your influence to help low-income households within the disability community,” he said.

An FCC record refresh on improving how wireless 911 calls are routed to the appropriate first responders is expected to be approved 4-0 by commissioners at their monthly meeting Wednesday. The final version is likely to incorporate some language sought by APCO (see 2206010027), said FCC and industry officials. The National Emergency Number Association doesn’t support those changes. APCO was the lone party to file comments in docket 18-62 after the FCC posted the draft.

IP captioned telephone service provider Hamilton Relay backed Telecom Relay Service Fund administrator Rolka Loube's proposed per-minute compensation formulas for the multistate average rate structure, in comments posted Wednesday in FCC docket 03-123 (see 2205160065). Hamilton asked that the current IP CTS rate be extended until either June 30, 2023, or when the FCC adopts a rate "based on a sustainable, long-term rate methodology." It also asked the commission to refresh the record on a "long-term IP CTS rate methodology."

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau wants comments by May 31, replies by June 7, on Telecom Relay Service Fund administrator Rolka Loube's proposed per-minute compensation formulas for the multistate average rate structure, said a public notice Monday in docket 03-123. Rolka Loube proposed $4.5098 for interstate traditional TRS, $5.6408 for speech-to-speech relay service, and $2.3419 for captioned telephone service. The bureau also wants comments on Rolka Loube's disbursement estimates and recommendations for the national deaf-blind equipment distribution program, iCanConnect. The FCC will address video relay service, IP captioned telephone service, and IP relay "in actions separate from this request for comment," the notice said.

T-Mobile Accessibility representatives raised concerns about telecommunications relay service compensation rates in a call with staff from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, said a filing posted Friday in docket 03-123. The carrier discussed “that IP Relay service continues to provide an essential communications link to certain segments of the TRS user community, including DeafBlind individuals,” the filing said: T-Mobile indicated it “would like to maintain and expand its IP Relay offering for those consumers. To do so, the company must be adequately compensated for providing the service.” T-Mobile urged a ratemaking methodology “based on a modified version of the Multistate Average Rate Structure that is used to set the rate for traditional TRS offerings.”

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated April 21 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

GlobalVRS asked the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to extend up to 90 days its waiver of commission rules on at-home video relay service call handling, said an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 03-123. It sought an extension of up to 90 days of the rules for equivalent support and equipping home workstations with monitoring technology. The waivers are scheduled to expire on March 31. GlobalVRS said it's "prepared to comply" with the rules by then, but a waiver would allow it to "ensure fully functional equipment deployment" and complete "on-site workstation inspections to confirm compliance." The provider also sought the extension to test a "newly sourced software application that integrates ongoing monitoring and supporting data collection."

3Way Video Relay Service submitted an application to the FCC to become a licensed video relay service provider funded by the Telecom Relay Service Fund, per an application posted Monday in docket 03-123. The company said it has one call center and had its VRS platform developed by Quantum Services Group. 3Way Video Relay Service will use Monday.com to "maintain VRS user demographic information," it said. The company also provided details about its communications assistants' employment requirements, TRS compliance, and interoperability.

T-Mobile and Sprint urged the FCC to extend a waiver of speed-of-answer requirements in agency telecommunications relay services rules. “While the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic are certainly improving, the ongoing impact of the pandemic on T-Mobile Accessibility’s TRS operations will continue beyond March 31 ... when the current TRS waivers are set to expire,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 03-123. “While T-Mobile Accessibility and its vendors have made significant strides to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, adequate staffing continues to be problematic given the economic conditions created by the pandemic, including a tight labor market.” T-Mobile spoke with staff from FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. The provider redacted data in its filing and asked for confidential treatment.

The FCC posted a report Friday on telecommunications relay services on videoconferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex, approved Feb. 24 by its Disability Advisory Committee (see 2202240064). “The Commission should either directly convene or encourage the convening of TRS providers and video conferencing platform vendors, with the input of accessibility advocates and academic experts, to facilitate the development of an application programming interface (API) or other standardized technical mechanism to allow TRS providers to directly interconnect to video conferencing platforms,” the report recommends: “Work with all stakeholders to ensure that TRS users can use standard user interfaces on all video conferencing platforms to join their preferred TRS provider to a video conference, in realtime.”