Most commenters agree the FCC should allow a 24-month transition...

agrees with the Commission that adopting the 2011 ANSI Standard would serve the public interest by updating the Commission’s rules in a manner that brings those rules more in line with new technology and allows additional frequency bands and air interfaces to become HAC compliant,” the company said (http://xrl.us/bmp9mj). “The Commission has recognized that a two year transition period is consistent with the Commission’s approach in other complex rulemakings, such as the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, closed captioning for digital television, and the V-chip. It is also consistent with the transition period adopted by the Commission when it narrowed the application of the HAC de minimis rule.” In the initial comment round, the wireless industry, led by CTIA, pressed the agency for a two-year transition, while groups representing the hearing impaired questioned whether that amount of time is necessary (CD Jan 18 p9). AT&T also said the 2011 revisions do not include a “T” HAC rating for VoIP carried over the LTE interface, an issue previously raised by Samsung (http://xrl.us/bmp9od). “The Commission’s proposed rules should be modified to consider LTE capable devices to be HAC compliant if those devices otherwise meet the applicable technical standard for the frequency bands and air interfaces covered by the 2011 ANSI Standard,” AT&T said.