VRS Interoperability Mandate Suspended for Another Year by FCC

Video relay service providers got another year to implement an interoperability mandate on a technical standard for an interface with some VRS devices. The deadline was April 29. In 2018, the FCC also delayed for a year the deadline for VRS providers to comply with the interoperability profile for relay user equipment (RUE profile) standard (see 1804270020). The RUE profile was “substantially revised over the last year, and the revised version has been submitted for review under the auspices of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF),” said Tuesday's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau order. “We allow additional time for IETF review, for the Bureau to make a decision on adoption of the revised standard, and for VRS providers to prepare for compliance.” The rules, approved in 2013, “are intended to enable VRS users to make and receive VRS calls and point-to-point video calls irrespective of the VRS providers serving the calling and called parties, and to switch to a different default VRS provider, without changing their VRS devices or software,” CGB said.