“Closer scrutiny” of the Universal Service Fund is needed, the FCC’s Office of Inspector General said in a report to Congress released Monday. An audit of the high- cost fund released last week concluded that the program is “at risk” because of an error rate of 23.3 percent in payments (CD Nov 28 p7), well above the 2.5 percent considered the most acceptable. The Inspector General’s Office said the commission’s Wireline Bureau needs to work more closely with the Universal Service Administrative Co., which oversees the funds, to reduce payment errors.

The FCC should clarify whether certain video relay service provider practices are legal and ethical, said the National Association for State Relay Administration in an ex parte filing. NASRA, which includes VRS regulators from 34 states, cited four “tactics” by VRS providers that it believes may violate FCC bans on providers contacting customers to get them to use more minutes. The FCC restricts that practice because the government reimburses providers for telecom relay service minutes through the interstate TRS fund. In one questionable scenario, NASRA said, a VRS provider signs up with an organization or club whose members could use VRS, then includes the club’s name in a VRS service pitched to those users. In return, the provider pays the club a sum perhaps based on the resulting VRS call volume, it said. In another situation, the provider hires deaf people as telemarketers for its sales department, requiring that they use the company’s VRS service to make the calls, NASRA said. “By employing full-time telemarketers who use their VRS products, providers exponentially increase their minutes of use,” it said. In a related scenario, some independent marketing companies have made deals with VRS providers under which the provider pays the marketer to use the VRS provider’s service, the group said. It cited some VRS providers’ referral programs, under which a company rewards users with free video phones for recruiting users. “Consumers have reported that in addition to soliciting new members, they must also use the [provider’s] VRS service” to get the phone, NASRA said. Such practice increases “unnecessary” minutes used, it said.

A federal appeals court stayed two FCC rulings restricting telecom relay service providers from using TRS fund money to encourage customers to take part in lobbying. Relay provider Sorenson asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court in Denver to stay the rules, which the company said prevented it from telling deaf consumers about matters relevant to them in Congress and at the FCC (CD July 16 p8). Sorenson said the rules violated the First Amendment, exceeded FCC authority and were “arbitrary and capricious.” Agency “ability to regulate TRS providers and their compensation rate is likely not the same as the ability to regulate how the TRS providers use the compensation they receive,” the 10th Circuit said. “The FCC has not explained how certain uses of received compensation affect efficiency more than other uses. . . . Moreover, the FCC has not indicated how any TRS provider’s lobbying effort funded with received compensation diminished TRS efficiency.” Sorenson “has a substantial likelihood of prevailing on at least one First Amendment claim,” the court said.

Competitors to Sorenson Communications cried foul on the telecom relay service giant’s petition to allow proxy numbers for Internet-based TRS (CD Oct 10 p8). The FCC intends to ban alias numbers starting Jan. 1, when 10- digit phone numbers become available to TRS users. To ease the transition, Sorenson said, the FCC should allow proxies for another year. The petition is “part of Sorenson’s continuing campaign to maintain a dominant market share through operation of a close, non- interoperable system,” GoAmerica said in comments Wednesday. Proxy numbers allow “Sorenson users and only Sorenson users to call each other directly,” whereas 10- digit numbers can be used to dial a customer of any company, it said. There are public safety reasons to dispense with proxies, Hamilton Relay said. If a proxy user’s 911 call is disconnected, the user can’t receive PSAP callbacks through alternative relay providers, it said. In an emergency, proxy users might not be able to get calls from “hearing relatives and friends who are not part of this closed system,” it said.

The FCC wants comment on a Sorenson petition asking it to allow proxy numbers for Internet-based telecommunications relay services. The FCC intends to ban alias numbers Jan. 1, when 10-digit phone numbers become available to TRS users. To ease that transition, Sorenson wants the FCC to allow proxies for another year, the FCC said. Comments are due Oct. 15, replies Oct. 21.

Consumer groups for people with speaking disabilities supported stricter rules for speech-to-speech telecom relay services, in comments last week on an FCC notice of proposed rulemaking. Relay providers resisted some of the changes being considered. The sides agreed that Internet-based STS service should get Interstate TRS Fund support.

Clarification: AT&T only rejected slamming and additional privacy rules for TRS (CD Aug 27 p3).

The FCC shouldn’t allow relay providers to forward 911 calls to other providers, Sorenson and other Internet relay providers said in reply comments. Earlier this month, in initial comments on a rulemaking about the FCC 10-digit numbering plan for Internet relay, the National Emergency Number Association said the FCC should require relay providers to forward 911 calls to other providers if they don’t answer in a set period (CD Aug 12 p6). In a reply, AT&T opposed imposing slamming and other new customer privacy rules on relay providers.

The FCC need not clarify the default provider rule in its order to implement a 10-digit numbering plan for Internet-based relay services, relay provider Sorenson said. In a Monday filing, Sorenson opposed a request by CSDVRS. CSDVRS had said the order could be read as empowering relay providers to complicate consumers’ efforts to access alternate providers by dialing around (CD Aug 19 p8). “The Commission should decline CSDVRS’s invitation to establish a lengthy and complex set of situation-specific rules that would effectively freeze TRS technology and innovation, to the detriment of users,” the company said. “CSDVRS’s proposal would undermine the progress toward functional equivalency that will be achieved by implementation of the FCC’s uniform numbering system.” The default provider selection requirement won’t give relay providers the wrong idea, because the FCC said “nothing” in the order “detracts from a TRS provider’s interoperability obligations,” Sorenson said. Giving relay users 10-digit numbers “will necessarily change the manner in which the end user experiences interoperability,” it said. Interoperability mechanisms will “evolve,” but users’ “freedom of choice” will remain, it said.

The FCC need not clarify the default provider rule in its order to implement a 10-digit numbering plan for Internet-based relay services, relay provider Sorenson said. In a Monday filing, Sorenson opposed a request by CSDVRS. CSDVRS had said the order could be read as empowering relay providers to complicate consumers’ efforts to access alternate providers by dialing around. “The Commission should decline CSDVRS’s invitation to establish a lengthy and complex set of situation-specific rules that would effectively freeze TRS technology and innovation, to the detriment of users,” the company said. “CSDVRS’s proposal would undermine the progress toward functional equivalency that will be achieved by implementation of the FCC’s uniform numbering system.” The default provider selection requirement won’t give relay providers the wrong idea, because the FCC said “nothing” in the order “detracts from a TRS provider’s interoperability obligations,” Sorenson said. Giving relay users 10-digit numbers “will necessarily change the manner in which the end user experiences interoperability,” it said. Interoperability mechanisms will “evolve,” but users’ “freedom of choice” will remain, it said.