TRS Providers Disagree on Sorenson Petition

Telecom relay service providers disagreed about Sorenson Communications’ petition for declaratory ruling that video relay service providers be allowed to recover the cost of service-related tasks, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-51. IP captioned telephone service provider Hamilton backed the petition and asked that it be extended to IP CTS providers. All "costs associated with an installation/training/registration visit should be reimbursable from the TRS Fund," said IP CTS provider ClearCaptions. VRS providers Convo Communications and GlobalVRS opposed the petition. Sorenson's request "constitutes a thinly veiled effort to increase its revenues while retaining its market dominance and captive users through continued leveraging of its proprietary equipment," GlobalVRS said. Convo asked the FCC to consider waiting to decide until at least "after it determines Ariel’s application to acquire control of Sorenson" (see 2112200045).