The FCC is teeing up a notice of apparent liability (NAL) against a data broker for violating customer proprietary network information (CPNI) rules. It’s to be voted on at the FCC’s July 13 agenda meeting. The data broker item is expected to be the highlight of the meeting, which also will include a notice of proposed rulemaking on telecom relay services (TRS) and an order and NPRM addressing rules for wireless medical devices, sources said Fri.

The FCC certified GoAmerica to provide IP and video relay services, the company said. The 5-year certification makes GoAmerica eligible for Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund (TRS) compensation. According to GoAmerica, TRS reimbursement will facilitate its ability to launch a proposed video relay service.

The FCC denied a Telco Group petition seeking exclusion of international revenue from the base used to calculate payments into the Telecom Relay Service Fund, or at least exclusion of Telco Group’s international revenue from its own contribution base. The FCC rejection of the requests said the TRS fund isn’t limited to supporting domestic relay service, but also is used to fund international relay calls. Telco had argued international revenue should be excluded because it’s excluded from contributions into the universal service fund. The FCC said that’s a different situation because USF money isn’t used for international service.

The FCC voted Wed. to require video relay service (VRS) equipment be interoperable and said equipment providers that block calls from competing carriers could be ineligible for Telecom Relay Service (TRS) Fund reimbursement. VRS is used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing to communicate with those who can hear. The FCC said VRS consumers must be able to place a VRS call via any VRS provider’s service and all VRS providers must be able to get calls from, and make calls to, any VRS consumer.

Advocates for the hearing impaired attacked a National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA) proposal to cut reimbursement rates for several relay services. In its May 1 FCC filing, NECA proposed lower reimbursement for traditional Telecom Relay Service (TRS), Speech-to-Speech service, Video Relay Service (VRS) and Internet Protocol Relay Service. NECA, the TRS fund administrator, said it based the proposed reductions on “cost and demand projections received from providers of relay services.” Revised data collection forms were sent to providers in the fall at the FCC’s instruction, NECA said. Due to changes in relay service technology, data now are collected from providers based on types of TRS services, not costs at each TRS center. The new forms also allow providers to report capital investment costs for the first time. In a letter to the FCC, advocacy groups said the FCC should reject the rates because NECA didn’t “factor in the access and functional equivalence requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).” The letter was signed by the National Assn. of the Deaf, Deaf & Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network and the Cal. Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf & Hard of Hearing. To comply with ADA, rates should reflect the need for interoperability of devices used by the deaf, “speed of answer requirements,” recruiting and training interpreters, providing equivalent 911 access, and other factors, the groups said. VRS provider Sorenson Communications also urged the FCC to reject reimbursement rate cuts, saying the VRS rate would be “inadequate to make VRS service available for the entire deaf community.” Sorenson said that “rather than increasing the rate to reflect the forecasted increase in costs coinciding with new federal requirements, NECA has recommended a considerable rate reduction aimed at eliminating costs such as outreach, which have been accepted in previous years.”

The FCC fined Northbrook, Ill.-based Globcom $715,000 for not paying into the Universal Service Fund or Telecom Relay Service Fund and not filing accurate revenue information on which payments are assessed. The FCC in late 2003 warned Globcom, a reseller of long distance telecom service, that it owed more than $681,000. The FCC said Globcom responded that it owed about that because its revenue filings were overstated through negligence. Communication between the FCC and Globcom continued since then. The FCC sought more information, for example on whether enough of Globcom’s revenue is international to reduce its payments into the funds. Globcom, meanwhile, missed filing deadlines. “Despite Globcom’s admission that it owes at least some portion of the invoiced amounts to the USF, and despite [a commitment] to make such payments to the universal service and TRS funds, Globcom has paid nothing to either fund since February 2003,” the FCC said. “In addition… the company has failed to file a single timely report” since the FCC issued the warning notice in 2003.

Improvements in communications devices for hearing impaired people are offset by lack of interoperability, resulting in continued frustration and possible danger, disability advocates said Mon. on an FCBA panel. Relay services have evolved from the old teletype-based TTY machines to video and IP-based equipment -- but without compatible standards people often own 2 or more devices and hope the right one is turned on when one’s doctor is trying to call, said consultant Karen Strauss, a former FCC disabilities access expert. “One of the biggest problems this community faces is interoperability,” said Strauss: “Voice is compatible everywhere but not so with text or video.”

Conn. regulators proposed to revisit whether to include the CapTel phone captioning service as part of the state’s telecom relay service (TRS) program. Sprint, which provides the relay service, proposed CapTel as a superior alternative to current options because it simultaneously provides audio and screen text. But CapTel requires that the deaf party have 2-line phone service. The Dept. of Public Utility Control in Sept. 2004 declined to pay for CapTel but encouraged Sprint to offer the service to the deaf for a fee. Sprint returned this month with a new application (Case 04-04-14) for TRS funding for CapTel, saying the FCC has approved cost allocation factors for CapTel service and defined the portion of costs compensable from federal TRS funds.

The National Assn. of the Deaf (NAD) settled a complaint against Buydig.com that it filed with the Justice Dept., NAD said last week. Heidi Forrest, who’s deaf, placed an order at Buydig.com, but the site then asked her by e-mail to contact them at a customer-service phone number. Forrest tried to call the number several times through Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), but Buydig refused the calls, saying it doesn’t accept “these calls” as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, NAD said. The site canceled Forrest’s order. The settlement requires Buydig to: (1) Provide all employees written company policy requiring acceptance of TRS calls. (2) Give “comprehensive” training in accepting TRS. (3) Post a notice on Buydig.com that the firm accepts TRS.

The FCC asked for comment on NECA’s proposed allocation factor for inbound 2-line captioned phone calls for interstate telecom relay services (TRS) fund compensation for July 2005-June 2006. The FCC has told NECA to determine and apply, on an annual basis, the allocation factor based on the relationship between interstate and international traditional TRS calls and all intrastate, interstate and international traditional TRS calls. This year, the FCC said, NECA calculated the factor by projecting traditional TRS minutes for 2005 and 2006 submitted by relay service providers in Jan. Interstate and international minutes for both years totaled 24,459,907; local, intrastate, interstate and international minutes totaled 213,957,866, the Commission said. Dividing interstate and international minutes by total minutes results in a proposed interstate factor of 11% for inbound 2-line captioned phone minutes, the FCC said. The other 89% of minutes would continue to be allocated to the intrastate jurisdiction, it said. Comments are due 15 days after publication in the Federal Register, replies 15 days later -- (03-123).