FCC Seeks Comment on Proposed TRS Funding, Payment Formulas

The FCC set the pleading cycle for proposed telecom relay service funding and payment formulas for the program year beginning July 1. Comments on the proposal from TRS administrator Rolka Loube Associates are due May 24 and replies June 3, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in docket 10-51 listed in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Rolka proposed $1.14 billion in funding and an industry contribution factor of 1.86 percent of carrier interstate and international telecom end user revenues. It proposed per-minute compensation rates of $2.62 for interstate traditional TRS, $3.76 for interstate speech-to-speech relay service and $1.91 for interstate captioned telephone service and interstate and intrastate IP captioned telephone service, all of which are subject to a multistate average rate structure methodology. It also proposed a cut in the $1.37/minute IP relay service compensation rate to $1.21/minute. Rolka didn't make a proposal on video relay service rates because the commission already established a schedule of declining rates, as modified in March, to provide some relief for small, Tier 1 video relay service (VRS) providers with fewer than 500,000 calling minutes per month (see 1603020033 and 1603030065). But it said the weighted average of VRS provider reported projected costs (excluding outreach) of $2.72 per minute remains "well below" the FCC's related compensation rates for the coming year. Providers have disputed FCC cost assessments. The PN sought comment on various other questions and issues related to the TRS program.