CCA, T-Mobile Urge FCC to Allow Industry Flexibility on Path to RTT Solutions
The Competitive Carriers Association and T-Mobile said FCC real-time text (RTT) rules should give industry more technological flexibility in transitioning from traditional text telephony (TTY) services used by those who are deaf and others with hearing or speech disabilities. With…
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the FCC eyeing an RTT vote Dec. 15 (see 1611220064), CCA and T-Mobile recognized the importance of standardizing text-based, IP communication, especially with public safety answering points. They said they appreciated agency consideration of a phased deployment approach that recognizes "carriers are dependent upon manufacturers to make native [embedded] changes to handsets" and smaller carriers will need more time for implementation. Within that approach, the FCC should "ensure its new rules provide options for the implementation roadmap ultimately to achieve support for RTT native to IP-based voice handsets," CCA and T-Mobile said in a filing posted Monday in docket 16-145 on a discussion with FCC staffers. They said a downloadable app is not a feasible first step for most CCA carrier members, and would divert resources from "the path to full native RTT," particularly given carrier decisions intended to meet a Dec. 31, 2017, implementation target. "The current proposal, as described by staff, appears effectively to mandate a single implementation path -- that is, deployment by means of an over-the-top app followed by all native handsets at a subsequent date," CCA and T-Mobile said. "But T-Mobile, as it stated on the record in this proceeding, cannot achievably deploy RTT by means of an over-the-top app due to the way its core network is architected, and it cannot possibly have all of its handsets support RTT by December 31, 2017. Other CCA members are likely to have similar issues with over-the-top deployment." CCA and T-Mobile urged the FCC to adopt flexible RTT rules that allow carriers "that plan to deploy RTT natively to meet the new obligations, either through an over-the-top app or by a staged introduction of RTT-capable handsets." They said they appreciated the FCC's proposed elimination of duties to support TTY, other than "backwards compatibility," and they recognized carriers would be granted needed flexibility to implement the latter. Separately, representatives of Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and other advocates urged FCC action on RTT. The IP transition is a "once in a lifetime opportunity to make RTT available to everyone on every phone," said a filing on a meeting with aides to all five commissioners.