July 2013 — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order in the Matter of Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities [CG Docket No. 03-123] and E911 Requirements for IP-Enabled Service Providers [WC Docket No. 05-196]. The Order extends waivers one year to July 1, 2014 or until the FCC amends the rules underlying these waivers, whichever occurs first. The FCC has extended the waivers to providers of VRS and IP Relay due to the belief that “each of the waived standards are either technically infeasible for providers to achieve or not applicable to the form of TRS (i.e. IP Relay or VRS) for which the standards are waived. Waivers have been extended for the following rules:
- Types of calls
- Pay-per-call (900) calls
- One-line Voice Carry Over (VCO), VCO-to-TTY, and VCO-to-VCO
- One-line Hearing Carry Over (HCO), HCO-to-TTY, and HCO-to-HCO
- Call release
The FCC similarly extends the waiver applying to VRS and IP Relay “service providers serving newly registered customers who use their former default service provider’s customer premises equipment (CPE).” These waivers have been extended in recognition that a transition period is needed to ensure full implementation of the interoperability and portability standards under the VRS Reform Order.
