[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52694-52696]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-19626]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[DA 04-2333]


Telecommunications Relay Services and the Americans With 
Disabilities Act of 1990; Coin Sent-Paid TRS Call From Payphones

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission responds to an annual report 
required by the October 25, 2002 Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order, 
which adopted measures to ensure the availability of payphone services 
for telecommunication relay service (TRS) users that are functionally 
equivalent to traditional payphone services available for non-TRS 
users.

DATES: Effective July 28, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cheryl King, (202) 418-2284 (voice), 
(202) 418-0416 (TTY), or e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 25, 2002, the Commission released 
a Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order published at 68 FR 6352, March 
10, 2003, in CC Docket 90-571; FCC 02-269. In the Fifth Coin Sent-Paid 
Report & Order, the Commission required that the Coin Sent-Paid (CSP) 
Industry Team submit a report to the Commission twelve months after 
publication of the Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order in the Federal 
Register. The report was to address the implementation and 
effectiveness of the consumer education program, coordination with TRS 
user community, and the identification of any problem areas and 
corrective action taken. This is a summary of the Commission's Public 
Notice, DA 04-2333 released July 28, 2004.
    The full text of this document is available for public inspection 
and copying during regular business hours at the FCC Reference 
Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, 
Washington, DC 20554. This document may be purchased from the 
Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. 
(BCPI), Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 
20554. Customers may contact BCPI, Inc. at their Web site: http://www.bcpiweb.com or call 1-800-378-3160.
    To request this document in accessible formats for people with 
disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), 
send an e-mail to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental 
Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY). This 
Public Notice can also be downloaded in Word and Portable Document 
Format (PDF) at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro.

Synopsis

    Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is codified 
at section 225 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), 
mandates that the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) ensure 
that interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay services (TRS) 
are available, to the extent possible and in the most efficient manner, 
to individuals in the United States with hearing and speech 
disabilities. Title IV aims to further the Act's goal of universal 
service by providing to individuals with hearing or speech disabilities 
telephone services that are functionally equivalent to those available 
to individuals without such disabilities. Since TRS became available on 
a nationwide basis in 1993, the Commission has taken numerous steps to 
increase the availability of TRS, and to ensure that TRS users have 
access to the same services available to all telephone service users. 
One of these services is access to public payphones.
    In the Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order the Commission noted 
that it had construed our requirement that TRS providers offer ``any 
type of call'' to include coin sent-paid calls, which are calls made by 
depositing coins in a coin-operated public payphone. At the same time, 
we noted long-standing concerns about the technical difficulties 
associated with providing long distance toll coin sent-paid calls 
through TRS facilities. We therefore addressed whether a solution had 
been developed for processing long distance toll coin sent-paid TRS 
calls, as well as whether other means had been developed by which 
individuals with hearing and speech disabilities could make TRS calls 
from payphones without using coins but instead using calling cards, 
prepaid cards, or collect or third-party billing.
    In the October 2002 Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order, the 
Commission acknowledged that no current technological solution exists 
to allow TTY users to use public telephones and make long distance toll 
calls through TRS facilities in the same manner as voice users using 
public telephones, i.e., by inserting coins to pay for the call. 
Instead, the Commission largely adopted the pay telephone industry's

[[Page 52695]]

Alternative Plan. Under the Alternative Plan, TRS users could make 
local 711 TRS calls from pay telephones free of charge, and may make 
long distance toll calls by using calling cards or prepaid telephone 
debit cards. The Alternative Plan also called for the pay telephone 
industry to develop programs to educate TRS users about alternate 
payment methods for making TRS long distance toll calls.
    The Commission identified six specific outreach and educational 
steps that it encouraged the pay telephone industry to take:
    (a) Draft a consumer education letter, in consultation with deaf 
and hard-of-hearing advocacy groups, for dissemination to TRS users.
    (b) Attend local, regional, and national consumer conferences of 
organizations that represent people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, 
and distribute information.
    (c) Post TRS instructions on or near pay telephones, to the extent 
possible.
    (d) Make information available for TRS websites.
    (e) Provide coin sent-paid TRS information in telephone 
directories.
    (f) Consult with representatives of the deaf and hard-of-hearing 
communities to improve outreach and education methods for use of 
payphones for TRS calls.
    On March 9, 2004, the CSP Industry Team filed its required report 
on outreach activities, detailing its response to each of the 
Commission's recommendations. The CSP Industry Team reports that:
    (a) Consumer Information Letter. The CSP Industry Team drafted an 
informational letter explaining the FCC's decision in the Fifth Coin 
Sent-Paid Report & Order. The CSP Industry Team received input on this 
letter from Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI) and Self Help 
for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), and gave the informational letter to 
TDI and SHHH for circulation to their members. TDI and SHHH requested 
that the CSP Industry Team write an article on the same subject for a 
user group newsletter, with which request the CSP Industry Team 
complied. The CSP Industry Team also prepared a wallet-sized card 
containing information and instructions for users for distribution to 
the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.
    (b) Information Booths at Conferences. The CSP Industry Team, 
carriers, and TRS providers provided educational activities in various 
fora, including deaf/hard-of-hearing organizations, businesses, 
colleges/universities/schools, city and state governments, hospitals, 
independent living/senior facilities, health care facilities, and 
retirement groups, and at local, regional, and national conferences 
widely attended by the TRS community. The total number of such events 
in 2003 was nearly 750, and the CSP Industry Team estimates that it 
directly reached approximately 440,000 people.
    (c) TRS Instructions On or Near TTY Payphones. The CSP Industry 
Team found that, in many instances, it was possible to have TRS 
instructions cards laminated and placed at the sites of TTY payphones.
    (d) TRS Web Site. The CSP Industry Team developed website updates 
for its members' websites, explaining the CSP rules and procedures for 
accessing TRS through pay telephones.
    (e) TRS Information in Telephone Directories. The CSP Industry Team 
coordinated with carriers to put TRS information, including CSP 
information, in telephone directories and telephone bill messages/
inserts.
    (f) Consultation with the Disability Community. In addition to 
meeting with national TRS users groups after the adoption of the Fifth 
Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order, identification of action items, and the 
provision of deliverables, the CSP Industry Team and TRS users groups 
agreed to reconvene to discuss any problems or developments in CSP. The 
Consumer Advisory Committee of the FCC, a Federal Advisory Committee, 
which includes members from the CSP Industry Team and members from TRS 
users groups, meets three times a year to discuss, inter alia, TRS 
issues. Any problems or developments which arise can be dealt with in 
this framework, or by reconvening the CSP Industry Team/TRS user group 
consultation process. The CSP Industry Team reported only one problem 
in its education and outreach program. TRS user groups were unhappy 
that the Commission had decided to let prepaid phone card rates be set 
by the market, without oversight by the Commission.
    On November 25, 2002--before the CSP Industry Team filed its 
required outreach report--Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI), 
The Consumer Action Network, The National Association of the Deaf, and 
Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People (Joint CSP Petitioners) filed a 
joint petition for reconsideration of the Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & 
Order, raising two central issues. First, they requested that the 
Commission restore the interim requirement for TRS payphone calls that 
carriers charge the lower of the coin sent-paid rate, or the rate for 
calling cards and/or prepaid calling cards. Joint CSP Petitioners 
asserted that implementation issues should not preclude the requirement 
of cost parity. Second, the Joint CSP Petitioners asserted that the 
Commission should have implemented a national outreach program under 
the purview of an entity such as the TRS Fund Administrator, rather 
than leave outreach to the voluntary efforts of the carriers.
    In an Order released on June 30, 2004, FCC 04-137, the Commission 
denied the Joint CSP Petitioners' Petition for Reconsideration of the 
Fifth Coin Sent-Paid Report & Order. First, the Commission declined to 
impose additional regulation on TRS calls made from payphones, 
including the notion of ``cost parity.'' Second, the Commission 
declined to mandate a nationwide uniform outreach campaign. With 
respect to outreach, the Order addressed more broadly TRS outreach and 
suggested that the Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) develop voluntary 
Best Practice Guidelines for state TRS programs, TRS providers, and 
common carriers. The Commission committed that it would work with the 
CAC to ensure that the results of that effort, and other relevant 
materials, are available on the FCC website (http://www.fcc.gov) so 
that common carriers, TRS providers, state programs, and advocates will 
have the opportunity to share their outreach ideas and approaches. The 
Commission also directed the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau to 
take concrete steps through educational and outreach efforts to further 
enhance public awareness of TRS. In addition to making factsheets and 
other informational materials available for dissemination through the 
Commission's website and national consumer call centers, the Commission 
committed to launch a comprehensive outreach campaign that will include 
participating in conferences and other events that provide 
opportunities for Commission staff to further educate not only users of 
TRS, but also the general public, about TRS. Finally, the Commission 
committed to provide media outlets likely to reach individuals who use 
TRS, as well as those of general distribution, with information about 
the availability of, and further developments in, the provision of TRS.
    Because all outstanding coin sent-paid issues have now been 
resolved, the Commission will not request public comment on the CSP 
Industry Team's report. The Commission notes, however, that persons 
having concerns about coin sent-paid or other TRS issues may file 
informal complaints with the Commission, send letters to the 
Commission's Disability Rights Office, or file petitions for 
clarification or for the promulgation of new rules. The CSP

[[Page 52696]]

Industry Team's report is available through the Electronic Comment 
Filing System on the Commission's Web site, http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi.

Federal Communications Commission.
Jay Keithley,
Deputy Chief, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
[FR Doc. 04-19626 Filed 8-26-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P