Sorenson/CaptionCall, Hamilton Lobby FCC on IP CTS Rates, Other Issues

of "Automatic Speech Recognition ('ASR')," said a CaptionCall filing posted Tuesday in docket 03-123 on meetings with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and other commission staffers. Noting FCC concerns about growth in overall telecom relay service (TRS) funding, the filing said the company recognized that changes to the IP CTS rate methodology may be needed. "CaptionCall agrees that, over the long term, the only sustainable course is to migrate nearly all IP CTS calls to an entirely ASR-based relay service, with human communications assistants needed only in circumstances that ASR cannot adequately handle," it said. "However, it will take some years before ASR technology evolves to that point of providing functionally equivalent service on a scalable and commercially robust level." Hamilton Relay met with FCC officials to discuss methods for improving IP CTS while ensuring only eligible people use the service. "Among the options discussed were the enforcement of existing rules, reinstatement of third-party certifications with possible enhancements to those certifications, while grandfathering those users who previously obtain[ed] third party certifications during the period when such certifications were not required, and annual re-registration and self-certification renewal requirements," said a filing. Hamilton urged the FCC to issue a Further NPRM to explore the issues, voiced continued support for the multistate average rate structure (Mars) for calculating IP CTS and some other TRS rates, and said the agency's proposed Office of Economics and Data should study the effectiveness of the MARS methodology before making changes.