FCC Asks About AT&T Bid for Rulemaking, Waiver To Ease RTT as TTY Replacement

The FCC wants comment on AT&T's push for regulatory actions to facilitate real-time text (RTT) as a replacement for text telephony (TTY) services that traditionally provide the deaf and others with access to voice communications. Initial comments are due Aug. 24 and replies Sept. 8 on a public notice issued Friday by four FCC bureaus in docket 15-178. The notice seeks comment on AT&T's petition asking the FCC to open a rulemaking aimed at writing rules to shift the text market serving the hearing- and speech-impaired from TTY to RTT solutions in an IP-based environment. It also asks about the telco's petition to temporarily waive rules requiring covered service providers to support TTY services until the new rulemaking is done or AT&T deploys RTT (expected in 2017), whichever comes later. AT&T believes RTT provides service superior to "obsolete" TTY (see 1506150036). AT&T recently asked the FCC for expedited review of its waiver petition so it could compete with rivals that are rapidly deploying IP-based Wi-Fi calling services. AT&T said it needs the waiver to provide its own Wi-Fi calling service. "The failure to grant a waiver on an expedited basis risks placing AT&T at a long-term competitive advantage," the telco said. The FCC public notice seeks comment on whether it should waive the rules for AT&T individually or for all covered entities.