Having gained approval from Congress and National Treasury Employees Union Local 209, FCC will begin operating with reorganized bureaus starting March 25, agency announced Fri. Affected bureaus are: (1) Media Bureau, combination of former Cable Services and Mass Media Bureaus; (2) Wireline Competition Bureau, former Common Carrier Bureau; (3) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, ex-Consumer Information Bureau; (4) Office of Legislative Affairs, ex- Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. Also undergoing some reorganization, though not renamed: International, Enforcement and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus. Commission also announced new Web site concentrating on FCC reform: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc_reform/.

FCC postponed until “sometime in the spring” scheduled Oct. 10 public forum and technology expo on Telecom Relay Service (TRS). Commission urged individuals to submit written ex parte presentations to help FCC write guidelines for educating public about TRS, one of topics that was to be discussed at forum.

Comsat asked FCC for full refund of $503,201 in Universal Service or TRS fund overpayments between 1993 and 1998, it said in Aug. 15 ex parte filing. Comsat said it was entitled to refund because it had provided no interstate portion of services that could be assessed for TRS payments, and services it did provide shouldn’t have been considered telecom under Commission rules. For TRS funding purposes, interstate services include interstate portion of video, satellite and international services. Comsat said that as provider of bare transponder capacity to mainly international destinations, it didn’t provide interstate portion of telecom service within meaning of Commission rules.

U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., seemed more concerned Wed. about procedural questions than merits as it heard arguments in Qwest challenge to FCC’s pricing rules for traffic that travels between ILECs and paging companies. Issue, outgrowth of reciprocal compensation regime, arose as result of dispute between Qwest and TSR Wireless, one-way paging company in Ariz. Qwest had billed TRS for dedicated facilities needed to pass paging calls to TSR customers. FCC sided with paging company and said charges weren’t legal.

National Exchange Carrier Assn. (NECA) gave FCC data on how much money is needed to support Telecom Relay Services (TRS) Fund in year starting July 1. NECA said $70.3 million would be needed, but since there was $11 million balance from this year, actual requirement was $59.4 million. TRS Fund is paid through contributions from telecom providers based on percentage of their interstate and international revenues. NECA also proposed reimbursement amounts for carriers that handle TRS calls: $1.309 per interstate min. for traditional TRS, $2.62 per interstate min. for Speech-to-Speech service, $7.449 for Video Relay Service. Providers are reimbursed separately for intrastate calls. NECA filing also included funding for nationwide campaign to educate public on using 711 to access TRS.

After struggling with technical difficulties of handling coin sent-paid calls through telecom relay services (TRS), FCC released proposal Fri. that it said finally would enable persons with hearing or speech disabilities to make TRS calls on payphones. New rules would enable TRS user to pay no more than person making non-TRS calls, Commission said. Americans with Disabilities Act requires common carriers to provide people with disabilities with services that are “functionally equivalent” to those available to those without disabilities. Attempt several years ago to require such equivalency for calls made with coins from payphones resulted in multiple suspensions of requirement. New proposal requires that phone carriers: (1) Not charge TRS users for making relay calls from payphones that otherwise would be local. (2) Enable TRS users to use calling cards, collect or 3rd party billing for toll calls from payphones. Users would be charged whichever was lower -- coin phone rate or rate from those other payment methods. (3) Conduct consumer education programs for TRS users. With TRS, callers type their conversations on text telephones called TTYs. Those messages are sent to TRS centers where they are read and forwarded verbally to persons at receiving end of call.