Relay Providers Seek ‘Indefinite’ Delay of 10-Digit Number Transition
The FCC should extend the deadline for deaf people to register 10-digit phone numbers for Internet-based telecom relay service, said AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Purple Communications and five other telecom relay service providers. Many relay users are unaware that they will lose service if they don’t register numbers by June 30 (CD April 17 p3). The companies’ Wednesday petition didn’t suggest a new deadline, but said Dec. 31 “might be achievable” if the FCC acts quickly to address registration and implementation problems.
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“At current registration rates, many relay users will be cut off from making calls through Internet-based relay services on July 1, 2009,” the providers said. Until the commission ramps up education efforts and resolves outstanding technical barriers to implementation, “a registration deadline makes no sense,” they said.
Noticeably absent from the petition was Sorenson Communications, the largest provider of Internet TRS services in the U.S. Petitioners approached Sorenson, but the company declined to sign because it thinks the industry can pull off the transition by June 30, said Mike Maddix, Sorenson regulatory affairs manager. “We are close,” as Sorenson has registered a majority of its users, he said in an interview. Finishing the job will be tough, but pushing the date back could take the registration issue “off the burner” and actually delay resolution, he said.
Consumer groups haven’t taken a position on extending the deadline, though they too have noted registration problems. Claude Stout, executive director of Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said it’s considering the petition. “We will need to ask questions of the industry players,” including what percentage of their customers are already registered,” he said in an interview. “We may have to factor in the reality that it is easier for a big provider to conduct the registration campaign than it is for a small provider.”
In the petition, AT&T and the other providers called for an “extensive public education and outreach campaign” by the FCC. Despite outreach efforts by providers, “relay consumers are confused and often unaware of the full requirements for registration,” they said. The agency released an American Sign Language video earlier this week, but that’s not enough, they said. “Petitioners appreciate that the FCC has released this video, but the FCC still needs to conduct a coordinated and comprehensive outreach program to make sure that this video and other educational information reaches” all affected relay users.
Many consumers don’t think they need to register a 10- digit number, the companies said. For example, many customers using IP-text relay on their cellphones “incorrectly believe that they are already registered because they have a local phone number associated with their wireless devices,” they said. Many consumers with toll-free numbers don’t realize those numbers will stop working unless they register a 10-digit number, the companies said.
The FCC must also resolve three technical issues, the providers said. First, it should authorize implementation of a reverse directory look-up function so providers can check if consumers are registered with another provider, the providers said. NeuStar requested authorization Feb. 25 to provide the function, but the FCC hasn’t responded, they said. Implementation of the function will take six months after the agency authorizes it, they said. The commission must also address problems related to equipment portability and getting geographically appropriate local phone numbers to customers in less-populated areas, they said.