ClearCaptions received conditional certification Thursday to provide IP captioned telephone service after its acquisition by CC Opportunities. An FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in docket 03-123 said ClearCaptions will "remain eligible for compensation from the TRS Fund after the change in ownership, pending commission action on an application for full certification of the post-merger entity."
Communication Service for the Deaf urged the FCC to approve direct video calling (DVC) as a compensable telecom relay service for "interactions with customer service centers." Oppositions to the company's petition on the issue from video relay service providers "lack merit" and consumers "wholeheartedly agree" DVC should be approved for TRS funding, CSD told an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 03-123. The request is "narrowly tailored" to enable callers fluent in American Sign Language "to effectively communicate with call centers that do not otherwise have anyone who can communicate in ASL," CSD said.
The Texas Association of Business (TAB) petitioned the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court for review of the FCC’s updated data breach notification rules. The rules were adopted Dec. 13, released Dec. 21 and published in the Federal Register Feb. 12, said TAB's Thursday filing (docket 24-60085). They are effective March 13 (see 2402090035).
The Texas Association of Business (TAB) petitioned the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court for review of the FCC’s updated data breach notification rules. The rules were adopted Dec. 13, released Dec. 21 and published in the Federal Register Feb. 12, said TAB's Thursday filing (docket 24-60085). They are effective March 13 (see 2402090035).
The Ohio Telecom Association (OTA) petitioned the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court for review of the FCC’s updated data breach notification rules, adopted Dec. 13, released Dec. 21 and published in the Federal Register Feb. 12, said its Tuesday filing (docket 24-3133). The rules are effective March 13.
West Virginia will suspend its telecom relay service (TRS) fee on customer bills, effective May 1, the Public Service Commission decided Wednesday. “The fund is generating adequate revenue to pay the monthly charges incurred by TRS users,” the PSC order said. “It is unlikely the fund will be exhausted in the foreseeable future.” PSC staff said last week that West Virginia could fund relay services for 20 years even if it reduced the TRS fee to zero (see 2401190013).
Nebraska will expand a Windstream 911 probe to include a January outage and outages occurring while docket 911-076 is open, the Nebraska Public Service Commission decided 5-0 Tuesday. “The Commission is concerned with what appears to be a growing pattern of repeated 911 outages on Windstream’s network affecting southeast Nebraska” public safety answering points, said the PSC order, which noted that three outages occurred during a five-month period. Also, commissioners unanimously supported a precision agriculture order setting a process for states grants (docket C-5529). The PSC will make more than $906,000 available for the 2023-2024 fiscal year starting July 1, with half the money for connectivity and the rest for devices and technology, it said. The PSC will run annual grant cycles with awards on or before June 30 each year, the order said. For the 2024 cycle, applications are due Feb. 23 and awards will be released by April 30, it said. "The grant program is another opportunity to advance precision agriculture in our state with much-needed connectivity and supporting technology,” said Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier. “We look forward to seeing the innovative projects submitted through the application process.” Also, the commission voted 5-0 for a TRS order to open docket C-5555 and hold a hearing March 19 at 1:30 p.m. CDT to determine the surcharge for the fiscal year starting July 1. Windstream experienced a 52-minute evening outage Jan. 13 in southeast Nebraska due to "two unrelated but overlapping network events," a spokesperson wrote in an email. "First, there was a fiber cut between Lincoln and Denver that took down one of our two network paths into and out of Nebraska." That damage didn't cause an outage, but before the telco could repair it, an unrelated event between Lincoln and Chicago "took down our second network path into and out of the state," the spokesperson said. "Service [was] restored when the fiber cut on the Lincoln-Denver path was repaired."
West Virginia could fund relay services for 20 years even if it reduced the monthly telecom relay service (TRS) fee on customer bills to zero, West Virginia Public Service Commission staff said Thursday. Staff recommended reducing the charge of 5 cents in docket 23-0756-T-P. “Monthly minutes of use of TRS has steadily declined in West Virginia, and although the amount collected monthly to fund TRTS has also decreased, the proceeds continue to exceed the amount needed to maintain TRS at its current level,” said staff: “This imbalance causes a continued increase in the TRS Escrow Account balance,” which hit nearly $1.6 million last July 31.
The West Virginia Public Service Commission updated TRS escrow account procedures through a Monday order in docket GO 187.64. The PSC said procedures established in 1992 “have been modified over time and should be memorialized.”
A coalition of consumer advocacy organizations opposed petitions for partial waivers of FCC rules requiring correctional facilities to deploy certain forms of advanced telecom relay services (TRS) by Jan. 1. Requests to extend the deadline "substantially harm incarcerated people with disabilities" and advanced forms of TRS are available, Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf, National Association of the Deaf, TDIForAccess, Communication Service for the Deaf and United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry said in a filing Thursday in docket 23-62. The groups opposed individual petitions filed by Securus, Pay Tel Communications, ViaPath and NCIC Inmate Communications (see 2311220052). PayTel urged the FCC to grant its petition, saying providers of incarcerated people's communications services should "be given sufficient time to develop integrated TRS solutions that are reliable, effective, and cost effective." Deploying advanced forms of TRS in correctional facilities "cannot be accomplished if the required third party services are not available for that particular facility," ViaPath said. The current compliance deadline "did not fully take into account the multi-step processes needed for essentially developing a product from scratch through testing and deployment," said Securus.