[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 14, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11789-11791]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4248]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 64

[CG Docket 03-123; DA 06-2532]


Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services 
for Individuals With Hearing and Speech Disabilities

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; extension of waiver.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission extends for an additional 
year the waiver of the emergency call handling requirement for 
providers of Video Relay Service (VRS). The Commission extends the 
waiver for one year in view of continued technological challenges to 
determining the geographic location of telecommunications relay service 
(TRS) calls that originate via the Internet.

DATES: The waiver of the emergency call handling requirement will 
expire on January 1, 2008, or upon the release of an order addressing 
the VRS emergency call handling issue, whichever comes first.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Chandler, (202) 418-1475 
(voice), (202) 418-0597 (TTY), or e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 31, 2001, the Commission 
released Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech 
Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, Waiver 
Order, DA 01-3029, CC Docket No. 98-67, 17 FCC Rcd 157 (2001), granting 
VRS providers a waiver until December 31, 2003, of certain TRS 
mandatory minimum standards, including the emergency call handling 
requirement. On December 19, 2003, the Commission released 
Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for 
Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, Order, DA 03-4029, CC 
Docket No. 98-67, 18 FCC Rcd 26309 (2003), extending the waiver to June 
30, 2004. On June 30, 2004, the Commission released Telecommunications 
Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with 
Hearing and Speech Disabilities, 2004 TRS Report and Order, FCC 04-137, 
CC Docket No. 98-67, published at 69 FR 53382, September 1, 2004, 
extending the waiver until January 1, 2006. On December 5, 2005, the 
Commission released Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-
Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, 
Order, DA 05-3139, CG Docket No. 03-123, published at 70 FR 76712, 
December 28, 2005, again extending the waiver until January 1, 2007. 
This is a summary of the Commission's document DA 06-2532, adopted 
December 15, 2006, released December 15, 2006.
    To request materials 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) or (202) 418-0432 (TTY). The 
Commission's document DA 06-2532 can also be downloaded in Word and 
Portable Document Format (PDF) at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb.dro.

Synopsis

    The Commission's TRS regulations set forth operational, technical, 
and functional mandatory minimum standards applicable to the provision 
of TRS. See 47 CFR 64.604 of the Commission's rules (the TRS 
``mandatory minimum standards''). To be eligible for reimbursement from 
the Interstate TRS Fund for the provision of TRS, the provider must 
offer service in compliance with all applicable mandatory minimum 
standards, unless waived. See Telecommunications Relay Services and 
Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech 
Disabilities, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (Improved TRS Order and FNPRM), FCC 00-56, CC Docket No. 98-
67, published at 65 FR 38432, June 21, 2000 and 65 FR 38490, June 21, 
2000.
    The mandatory minimum standards require TRS providers to handle 
emergency calls by immediately and automatically transferring the calls 
to an appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP). See 47 CFR 
64.604(a)(4) of the Commission's rules. The Commission recognized that 
many individuals use VRS and IP Relay to contact emergency services 
despite the fact that persons with hearing and speech disabilities can 
make calls directly to the PSAP by calling 911 through a TTY and a 
traditional telephone line. See Telecommunications Relay Services and 
Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech 
Disabilities, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (VRS 911 NPRM), FCC 05-196, 
CG Docket No. 03-123, published at 71 FR 5221, February 1, 2006. 
Regulations require state and local governments to make emergency

[[Page 11790]]

services directly accessible to TTY users (i.e., for direct TTY to TTY 
calls).
    In March 2000, the Commission recognized VRS as a form of TRS 
eligible for compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund. See Improved 
TRS Order and FNPRM, 15 FCC Rcd 5152-5154, paragraphs 21-27. On 
December 31, 2001, the Commission granted VRS providers a two-year 
waiver of certain TRS mandatory minimum standards, including the 
emergency call handling requirement. This waiver was extended to 
January 1, 2007. See Telecommunications Relay Services Speech-to-Speech 
Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities, Order 
(2005 VRS 911 Waiver Order), DA 05-3139, CG Docket No. 03-123, 
published at 70 FR76712, December 28, 2005.
    On November 30, 2005, the Commission released the VRS 911 NPRM, 
seeking comment on how providers of the Internet-based TRS services, 
including VRS, may determine the appropriate PSAP to contact when they 
receive an emergency call. See (VRS 911 NPRM). The Commission 
emphasized the importance of developing the technology required to 
promptly route VRS calls seeking emergency assistance to the 
appropriate emergency service provider. VRS 911 NPRM, 20 FCC Rcd 
19476--19477, paragraphs 1-2, 19484, paragraph 18.
    On November 14, 2006, Sprint Nextel Corporation filed a petition to 
extend the waiver until January 1, 2008, or until the release of an 
order addressing this matter, whichever happens first. Sprint Nextel 
Corporation (Sprint), Petition for Waiver, CG Docket No. 03-123, filed 
November 14, 2006 (Sprint Petition). In its petition, Sprint states 
that the technological challenges that led to the extension of the 
current waiver for VRS are still present. Sprint therefore states that 
because providers are still unable to automatically determine the 
geographic location of VRS callers, there is good cause for extending 
the waiver.
    On November 15, 2006, the Commission held the E9-1-1 Disability 
Access Summit (Summit) to discuss advances in E9-1-1 calling technology 
and access for persons with hearing and speech disabilities, including 
via VRS calls. FCC Releases Agenda for November 15 E9-1-1 Disability 
Access Summit, News Release (November 13, 2006). The Summit brought 
together representatives from the government, industry, and consumer 
groups to exchange information and evaluate options for addressing this 
critical issue.
    During the Summit, Sprint, Communications Services for the Deaf 
(CSD), Communications Access Center (CAC), Hands On Video Relay 
Services (Hands On), Hamilton Relay (Hamilton), and Sorenson 
Communications (Sorenson), all VRS providers, noted that technology has 
not yet been developed to allow them to automatically forward emergency 
VRS calls to the appropriate PSAP. See E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit, 
Meeting Transcript (November 15, 2006). They also explained the interim 
methods being used to connect VRS calls to PSAPs. These include 
ensuring that incoming emergency VRS calls are given priority call 
handling, using two CAs during an emergency call to ensure that 
location and other necessary information is gathered from the VRS user, 
in other words, in addition to the CA handling the relay call, a second 
CA would assist in relaying the call and use of a national database to 
locate the appropriate PSAP to call. CSD Comments, E9-1-1 Disability 
Access Summit, Provider Panel. In other words, if the VRS caller is 
able to do so, the caller provides the CA with his or her location, the 
CA determines the appropriate PSAP for that location through a national 
database, and the CA then makes the outbound call to the PASP. Another 
provider noted that its CAs will stay on the call until the first 
responders arrive at the emergency location to ensure that the VRS user 
is able to communicate with the emergency personnel. Sorenson Comments, 
E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit, Provider Panel.
    Also during the Summit, Consumer groups acknowledged that users are 
moving away from using TTYs and that VRS is now widely used in the deaf 
community. See, e.g., NorCal Center on Deafness Comments, E9-1-1 
Disability Access Summit, Consumer Panel. Consumers also advocated for 
the development of automated methods for determining the location of 
VRS callers, the ability to handle emergency calls from mobile devices, 
training for 911 operators on responding to calls from persons with 
speech or hearing disabilities, and interoperability between PSAPs. See 
E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit, Consumer Panel (panelist representing 
consumers included Sheri Farinha Mutti, Claude Stout, Rebecca Ladew, Ed 
Bosson, and Elizabeth Spiers).

Discussion

    The Commission recognizes the vital importance of access to 
emergency services for all relay services, particularly VRS. For this 
reason, the Commission sought detailed comment on this issue in the VRS 
911 NPRM, and recently held the E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit to 
explore continuing developments to finding a solution to this issue. 
The Commission also recognizes, however, that although providers and 
other interested parties are actively working toward a solution to this 
critical issue, presently a technological solution does not exist to 
automatically route Internet-based emergency VRS calls to the 
appropriate PSAP--i.e., to automatically determine the geographic 
location of the VRS caller so the call can be linked to the appropriate 
PSAP. For this reason, some providers have taken interim measures for 
handling emergency calls. For example, some providers are able to give 
emergency calls priority call handling. See, e.g., Sorenson Comments, 
E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit, Provider Panel. Providers may consider 
the feasibility of using a dedicated emergency calling ``link'' on 
their VRS Web-site that callers making an emergency VRS call can use 
and that will allow providers to promptly identify and handle incoming 
emergency calls. Others use two CAs on an emergency call to assist in 
gathering accurate information from the caller. See, e.g., E9-1-1 
Disability Access Summit, Provider Panel (remarks of CSD and Verizon). 
At least one provider uses a national database to determine the 
appropriate PSAP for the caller's location. See, e.g., Sorenson 
Comments, E9-1-1 Disability Access Summit, Provider Panel (noting that 
it uses Intrado to determine the appropriate PSAP and its telephone 
number for a particular address). Until a technological solution is 
adopted that automatically routes VRS 911 calls, the Commission 
encourages all VRS providers to take similar or other steps to ensure 
that emergency calls are routed to the appropriate PSAP as quickly as 
possible.
    The Commission may waive a provision of its rules for ``good cause 
shown.'' 47 CFR 1.3; see generally 2004 TRS Report and Order, 19 FCC 
Rcd 12520, paragraph 110 (discussing standard for waiving Commission 
rules). Because it is apparent that the current state of technology 
does not allow a means of automatically determining the geographic 
location of TRS calls originating via the Internet, including VRS 
calls, the Commission finds good cause exists to extend the present 
waiver of the emergency call handling requirement for VRS providers 
until January 1, 2008 or upon the release of an order addressing this 
issue, whichever comes first. The Commission also notes that a similar 
issue exists

[[Page 11791]]

with respect to VoIP service (i.e., voice telephone calls made via the 
Internet rather than the PSTN), and that for this reason, the 
Commission has presently mandated that VoIP providers obtain a 
registered location for each of their customers so that the providers 
can direct an emergency VoIP call to the appropriate PSAP. In the 
pending VRS 911 NPRM, the Commission sought comment on the adoption of 
a registered location requirement similar to the VoIP requirement. VRS 
911 NPRM, 20 FCC Rcd 19484-19486, paragraphs 19-22. In addition, the 
Commission raised other potential options for addressing emergency call 
handling, including developing a unified database of PSAPs that 
providers could use when receiving an emergency call, requiring 
providers to give priority access to emergency calls, and structuring 
VRS and IP Relay calls in such a way that they include a VoIP call, so 
that the VoIP registration could apply to the VRS or IP Relay call. VRS 
911 NPRM, 20 FCC Rcd 19487, paragraphs 24-26. These issues remain 
pending.

Ordering Clause

    Pursuant to the authority contained in sections 225 of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 225, and Sec.  Sec.  
0.141, 0.361, and 1.3 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.141, 0.361, 
1.3, the Order is adopted.

Federal Communications Commission.
Jay Keithley,
Deputy Bureau Chief, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau.
 [FR Doc. E7-4248 Filed 3-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P