CaptionCall, ClearCaptions Object to FCC IP CTS Draft 10% Rate Cuts, Float Smaller Decreases
Two more IP captioned telephone service providers opposed a draft order's cuts in their compensation rate, though they suggested smaller cuts as a backup. CaptionCall said the FCC shouldn't reduce a $1.95 per minute rate by 10 percent in each of the next two funding years -- to $1.75 on July 1, and to $1.58 on July 1, 2019 -- but the Sorenson Communications subsidiary floated a $1.75 rate for two years if the agency insists on an interim rate. ClearCaptions suggested $1.85 for FY 2018-19 and $1.75 for FY 2019-20. Hamilton previously offered a $1.75 rate for both years (see 1805250056). The draft seeks to reduce IP CTS funding approaching $1 billion per year.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Advocates for deaf consumers and CaptionCall lobbied on concerns about the authorization of automated speech recognition (ASR) technology without more safeguards, something Hamilton also cited. The wide-ranging draft order, declaratory ruling, Further NPRM and notice of inquiry is eyed for a vote at the June 7 commissioners' meeting (see 1805170060 and 1805240010).
Sprint urged a $2 IP CTS rate as providers also commented on the various telecom relay service proposals of TRS fund administrator Rolka Loube for FY 2018-19 in another proceeding (see 1805080021).
CaptionCall said the FCC lacks IP CTS provider cost data to impose interim rates. The data the agency relies on is submitted by providers to enable Rolka Loube "to make reasoned decisions about the amount of revenue the Fund requires," not to set rates, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 13-24 on a meeting with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel. The proposed second cut to $1.58 "lacks any reasoned basis," derived "by taking the first-year interim rate of $1.75, which itself is based on flawed and incomplete cost data, and then reducing it by 10%," the provider said. "This reduction is not based on anything in the record specific to IP CTS."
The draft relies on past video relay service rate cuts without identifying any similar features, and fails to consider the impact on provider incentives to develop technology and improve service, CaptionCall said. The FCC should impose no interim rates, but $1.75 "at least has some support in the record," said the provider. It cited "legal flaws" in the draft's efforts to curb abuse, "most problematically," apparent imposition of "strict liability on providers for the acts of third parties beyond their control."
ClearCaptions backs the draft order except for the rate cuts. It "questioned Rolka Loube's assumption that all IP CTS providers are earning excessive profits," said a filing on a discussion with the Carr aide in which it outlined the potential impact on the company, its ASR development efforts, and the IP CTS market. The provider suggested cuts to $1.85 and $1.75, or alternatively, that "an emerging provider rate be set at these figures for the next two years," estimating the "changes would preserve the opportunity for competitive alternatives and still result in hundreds of millions in savings."
Deaf-consumer advocates have "significant concerns" about draft ASR authorization, and planned delegation to the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of "the responsibility of applying the existing TRS minimum standards to IP CTS applicants proposing to use ASR." The draft "does not acknowledge that the minimum standards are replete with explicit references to human communications assistants and provides little guidance as to how the Bureau should evaluate compliance with those standards by machine-learning algorithms," said filing Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Hearing Loss Association of America and Gallaudet University Technology Access Program on meetings with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, bureau staffers, and others.
The ASR plan could effectively modify standards without legal notice, resulting in "widespread deployment" without "quality standards or performance metrics," said the advocates. They also cited potential privacy concerns. CaptionCall said it's developing ASR but urged the FCC to ensure services are ready before certifying them.
Sprint said a $2 IP CTS rate is justified under the "multistate average rate structure" (MARS) methodology, which the draft seeks to jettison. "Raise the proposed rate of $1.36 per minute to $1.37 for IP Relay," said its comments on Rolka Loube's FY 2018-19 TRS proposals in docket 03-123. Hamilton supported proposed MARS rates for traditional TRS, speech-to-speech services, CTS and IP CTS. CaptionCall (here) and ClearCaptions (here) also commented.