54298 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 14, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

Declaratory Ruling did not address twoline captioned telephone service, and 

petitioners now seek clarification that 

this type of captioned telephone service 

is also a type of TRS eligible for 

compensation from the Interstate TRS 

Fund. 

As noted in the Order, the record 

reflects that two-line captioned 

telephone service is simply a variation 

of captioned telephone service that 

offers the same functionality while also 

offering the user additional features. 

These additional features represent 

another step forward toward functional 

equivalency. Therefore, in the Order the 

Commission clarifies that two-line 

captioned telephone service, like oneline captioned telephone service, is a 

type of TRS eligible for compensation 

from the Interstate TRS Fund. 

The Commission does not believe this 

clarification will have a significant 

economic impact; however, in the event 

that it does, the Commission also notes 

that there are not a substantial number 

of small entities that will be affected by 

our action. The SBA has developed a 

small business size standard for Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers, which 

consists of all such firms having 1,500 

or fewer employees. 13 CFR 121.201, 

NAICS code 517110 changed from 

513310 in October 2002. According to 

Census Bureau data for 1997, there were 

2,225 firms in this category which 

operated for the entire year. U.S. Census 

Bureau, 1997 Economic Census, Subject 

Series: Information, ‘‘Establishment and 

Firm Size (Including Legal Form of 

Organization),’’ Table 5, NAICS code 

513310 issued October 2000. Of this 

total, 2,201 firms had employment of 

999 or fewer employees, and an 

additional 24 firms had employment of 

1,000 employees or more. Thus, under 

this size standard, the majority of firms 

can be considered small. The census 

data do not provide a more precise 

estimate of the number of firms that 

have employment of 1,500 or fewer 

employees; the largest category 

provided is ‘‘Firms with 1,000 

employees or more’’. Currently, only 

three providers are providing captioned 

telephone service and being 

compensated from the Interstate TRS 

Fund: CapTel, Inc., Hamilton and 

Sprint. The Commission expects that 

only one of the providers noted above 

may be a small entity under the SBA’s 

small business size standard. In 

addition, the Interstate Fund 

Administrator is the only entity that 

will be required to pay to eligible 

providers of two-line captioned 

telephone service the costs of providing 

interstate service. The Commission will 

send a copy of the Order, including a 

copy of this Regulatory Flexibility 

Certification, to the Chief Counsel for 

Advocacy of the SBA. (5 U.S.C. 605(b)). 

Congressional Review Act 

The Commission will send a copy of 

the Order in a report to Congress and 

the Governmental Accountability Office 

pursuant to the Congressional Review 

Act. See 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A). 

Ordering Clauses 

Pursuant to the authority contained in 

Sections 1, 2, and 225 of the 

Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, and 225, 

this Order is hereby adopted. 

The Request for Clarification 

submitted by Ultratec, Inc, Sprint 

Corporation, and Hamilton Relay, Inc., 

is granted to the extent indicated herein. 

The Petition for Declaratory Ruling 

filed by the National Exchange Carrier 

Association, Inc. (NECA), on behalf of 

the Interstate Telecommunications 

Relay Service Advisory Council, is 

granted to the extend indicated herein. 

The Order shall be effective October 

14, 2005. 

The Commission’s Consumer & 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 

Information Center shall send a copy of 

the Order, including the Regulatory 

Flexibility Certification, to the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the U.S. Small 

Business Administration. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene H. Dortch, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 05–18029 Filed 9–13–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 64 

[CG Docket No. 03–123; DA 05–2066] 

Telecommunications Relay Services 

and Speech-to-Speech Services for 

Individuals With Hearing and Speech 

Disabilities 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule; clarification. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau (the Bureau) clarifies under 

delegated authority, that 

telecommunications relay service (TRS) 

providers offering free or discount long 

distance service to TRS consumers as an 

incentive to use a particular TRS 

provider’s relay service, or as an 

incentive for a consumer to make more 

or longer TRS calls, constitutes an 

impermissible financial incentive in 

violation of the Financial Incentives 

Declaratory Ruling. TRS providers in 

violation of the Financial Incentives 

Declaratory Ruling will be ineligible for 

compensation from the Interstate TRS 

Fund. 

DATES: Effective January 12, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Chandler, Consumer & 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, (202) 

418–1475 (voice), (202) 418–0597 

(TTY), or e-mail 

Thomas.Chandler@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of Commission document DA 

05–2066, adopted July 27, 2005, 

released July 28, in CG Docket No. 03–

123. This document does not contain 

new or modified information collections 

requirements subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public 

Law 104–13. In addition, it does not 

contain any New or modified 

‘‘information collection burden for 

small business concerns with fewer than 

25 employees,’’ pursuant to the Small 

Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 

Public Law 107–198, sec 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4). Copies of any subsequently 

filed documents in this matter will be 

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. 

They may also be purchased from the 

Commission’s duplicating contractor, 

Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (BCPI), 

Portals II, 12th Street, SW., Room CY–

B402, Washington, DC 20554. 

Customers may contact BCPI at their 

Web site: http://www.bcpiweb.com or 

call 1–800–378–3160. To request 

materials in accessible formats for 

people with disabilities (Braille, large 

print, electronic files, audio format), 

send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call 

the Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at (202) 418–0530 (voice) or 

(202) 418–0432 (TTY). This document 

can also be downloaded in Word and 

Portable Document Format (PDF) at 

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb.dro. 

Synopsis 

On January 26, 2005, the Bureau, 

under delegated authority, issued the 

Financial Incentives Declaratory Ruling 

concluding that any program that offers 

any kind of financial incentive or 

reward for a consumer to place a TRS 

call, including minimum usage 

arrangements or programs (whether or 

not tied to the acceptance of 

equipment), violates section 225 of the 

Communications Act. See 

Telecommunications Relay Services and 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 14, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 54299 

Speech-to-Speech Services for 

Individuals With Hearing and Speech 

Disabilities, CC Docket No. 98–67, CG 

Docket No. 03–123, Declaratory Ruling, 

20 FCC Rcd 1466–1468, paragraph 4, 

released January 26, 2005, published at 

70 FR 9239, February 25, 2005, 

(Financial Incentives Declaratory 

Ruling). The Bureau explained that ‘‘in 

view of the intent and nature of section 

225 of the Communications Act, and the 

obligation placed on entities providing 

voice telephone services to also offer 

TRS as an accommodation to persons 

who, because of a disability, cannot 

meaningfully use the voice telephone 

system, the Bureau interprets section 

225 of the Communications Act and the 

implementing regulations to prohibit a 

TRS provider’s use of any kind of 

financial incentives or rewards, 

including arrangements tying the receipt 

of equipment to minimum TRS usage, 

directed at a consumer’s use of their 

TRS service.’’ The Bureau further 

explained that because the Interstate 

TRS Fund, and not the consumer, pays 

for the cost of the TRS call, such 

financial incentives are tantamount to 

enticing consumers to make calls that 

they might not ordinarily make. The 

Bureau therefore concluded that, 

effective March 1, 2005, any TRS 

provider offering such incentives for the 

use of any of the forms of TRS will be 

ineligible for compensation from the 

Interstate TRS Fund. 

The Financial Incentives Declaratory 

Ruling was in response to a TRS 

provider’s customer loyalty program 

which offered the provider’s customers 

the opportunity to have their DSL or 

cable modem bill reimbursed by the 

provider through the accumulation of 

points based on minutes of use of the 

provider’s TRS service. Sprint 

Corporation (Sprint) sought clarification 

whether its free long distance service 

promotion violated the prohibition 

against TRS financial incentives set 

forth in the Financial Incentives 

Declaratory Ruling. See Letter from 

Spring to Thomas E. Chandler, Chief, 

Disability Rights Office, Consumer & 

Governmental Affairs, Federal 

Communications Commission, dated 

February 7, 2005, regarding Declaratory 

Ruling (DA 05–140) issued January 26, 

2005 in CC Docket No. 98–67 and CG 

Docket No. 03–123 (Ex Parte 

Communication) (Sprint Letter). 

As Sprint explained, it provides 

traditional TRS in a state (California) 

that has more than one provider of this 

service (i.e., a ‘‘multi-vendor’’) state. See 

Sprint Letter at 1–2. Therefore, a TRS 

consumer in that state can choose which 

available TRS provider he or she wants 

to handle his or her TRC call. To give 

the consumers an incentive to use 

Sprint’s relay service, Sprint adopted a 

promotion whereby long distance calls 

would be free to consumers who select 

Sprint as their provider of both relay 

and long distance services. See Sprint 

Letter at 1. Providers of traditional TRS 

may not charge consumers for the cost 

of the TRS service; the may, however, 

charge the consumer for long distance 

service. The Commission’s rules require 

providers of traditional TRS to offer 

their consumers access to the 

consumer’s long distance carrier of 

choice. See 47 CFR 64.604(b)(3). In 

other words, TRS consumers must be 

afforded the same opportunity given to 

non-TRS consumers to use whichever 

long distance service they choose when 

making a long distance call. See 

generally Telecommunications Relay 

Services and Speech-to-Speech Services 

for Individuals with Hearing and Speech 

Disabilities, CC Docket No. 98–67, CG 

Docket No. 03–123, Second Report and 

Order, Order on Reconsideration, and 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 18 FCC 

Rcd 12375, 12412–12415, paragraphs 

54–61, released June 17, 2003, 

published at 69 FR 53346, September 1, 

2004, (2004 TRS Report & Order). (The 

Bureau notes that the carrier of choice 

rule is presently waived for the 

provision of Internet Protocol Relay 

Service (IP Relay) and Video Relay 

Service (VRS). See, e.g., 2004 TRS 

Report & Order, 19 FCC Rcd 12594, 

Appendix E.) Sprint asserted that is free 

long distance program is distinguishable 

from the kind of financial incentive 

programs prohibited by the Financial 

Incentives Declaratory Ruling, and 

therefore should be permissible. Sprint 

asserted that, unlike customer loyalty 

programs, the free long distance 

program does not provide any benefits 

independent of the calls themselves, 

and therefore there is no incentive to 

make unnecessary TRS calls. Sprint also 

noted that discounts from standard rates 

have long been characteristic of the 

super-competitive long distance market. 

Finally, Sprint noted that even if the 

Bureau found that Sprint’s free long 

distance program violated the Financial 

Incentives Declaratory Ruling, the 

Bureau should make clear that the 

prohibition applies only to interstate 

long distance service, and not intrastate 

long distance service. See Sprint Letter 

at 2, note 1. On March 11, 2005, Nordia, 

Inc., another provider of traditional TRS 

in California, addressed by letter the 

provision of free long distance service 

along with traditional TRS service. See 

letter from Vinson & Elkins (Counsel for 

Nordia, Inc.) to Thomas E. Chandler, 

Chief, Disability Rights Office, 

Consumer & Governmental Affairs, 

Federal Communications Commission, 

dated March 11, 2005, regarding 

Declaratory Ruling Regarding Hands-On 

Video Relay Services, Inc., CC Docket 

No. 98–67 and CG Docket No. 03–123. 

Discussion 

The Bureau finds that offering free or 

discount long distance service (subject 

to the exceptions noted below) to TRS 

consumers as an incentive to use a 

particular TRS provider’s relay service, 

or as an incentive for a consumer to 

make more or longer TRS calls, 

constitutes an impermissible financial 

incentive in violation of the Financial 

Incentive Declaratory Ruling. When 

customers receive either free or heavily 

discounted long distance service, they 

have an incentive to make more or 

longer calls than they would make in 

the absence of such a program. 

Consequently, the Interstate TRS Fund, 

which compensates providers on a perminute basis, is bill for minutes the 

customers might not have generated but 

for the incentive program. Although 

Sprint raises this issue in the context of 

a multi-vendor state, we note that our 

conclusion applies to TRS providers 

whether or not they are the only 

provider in a state. Free or discount long 

distance programs for traditional TRS 

consumers run afoul of the 

Commission’s financial incentives 

prohibition not because they might 

cause a consumer to select one 

provider’s service instead of another 

provider’s service, but because such 

programs may have the effect of causing 

a TRS consumer to make more or longer 

TRS calls than be or she would 

otherwise make. 

This document shall be effective 

January 12, 2006. The record reflects 

that some providers may not be able to 

immediately change their automated 

billing system. See Letter from MCI to 

Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal 

Communications Commission, dated 

June 10, 2005, regarding CC Docket No. 

98–67 and CG Docket No. 03–123 

(indicating that MCI would need 45 

days to comply with ruling proscribing 

free long distance); Letter from Vinson 

& Elkins (Counsel for Nordia, Inc.) to 

Thomas E. Chandler, Chief, Disability 

Rights Office, Consumer & 

Governmental Affairs, Federal 

Communications Commission, dated 

June 16, 2005, regarding Nordia Billing 

for Interstate Calls (indicating company 

would require 9 to 12 months to 

implement billing system). The Bureau 

believes that 120 days is a reasonable 

time for providers to come into 

compliance. 

54300 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 14, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

There are, however, two important 

limitations to the Bureau’s conclusion 

with respect to free or discount long 

distance service to TRS consumers. 

First, the Financial Incentives 

Declaratory Ruling and this document 

apply only with respect to free or 

discount interstate long distance 

service, not intrastate long distance 

service. Second, the Bureau recognizes 

that provider have long offered discount 

long distance service to TRS consumers 

who use a TTY under the rationale that, 

given the nature of traditional TRS, it 

take substantially longer for parties to a 

traditional TRS call to have a 

conversation than it would for two 

hearing parties to have the same 

conversation. Therefore, providers have 

been permitted to offer discount long 

distance service to TRS consumers so, 

long as the discounts reasonably relate, 

under the functional equivalency 

principle, to equalizing the cost of the 

call based on the added length of a TRS 

call. The Bureau prohibits only those 

long distance discounts for TRS 

consumers that go beyond ensuring that 

the long distance service cost of the TRS 

call is equivalent to what that cost 

would have been for hearing parties. 

Programs directed at giving the 

consumer an incentive to make a TRS 

call in the first place, or to place a 

longer TRS call than consumer might 

otherwise make, are prohibited under 

this document. 

Nothing in the Financial Incentives 

Declaratory Ruling or this document 

precludes interstate TRS providers that 

also offer long distance service from 

offering discounts to all of their 

consumer when the same discount 

applies to both voice and TRS calls. The 

Bureau addresses herein only the 

situation where TRS consumers, but not 

other consumers, are given free long 

distance service (or discount long 

distance service) as incentive for the 

consumer to use the particular TRS 

provider that also offer the long distance 

service, or to make more or longer TRS 

calls. 

Ordering Clauses 

Pursuant to the authority contained in 

section 225 of the communications Act 

of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 225, and 

§§ 0.141, 0.361, and 1.3 of the 

Communication Rules, 47 CFR 0.141, 

0.361, 1.3, this document is hereby 

adopted. 

Any TRS provider offering to TRS 

consumers financial incentives relating 

to free or discount long distance service, 

as set forth above, shall be eligible for 

compensation from the Interstate TRS 

Fund. 

This document shall be effective 

January 12, 2006. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Monica Desai, 

Chief, Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau. 

[FR Doc. 05–18250 Filed 9–13–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–M 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 64 

[CG Docket No. 02–386; FCC 05–29] 

Rules and Regulations Implementing 

Minimum Customer Account Record 

Exchange Obligations on All Local and 

Interexchange Carriers; Correction 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: On June 2, 2005 (70 FR 

32258), the Commission published a 

final rule in the Federal Register, which 

adopted new rules to facilitate the 

exchange of customer account 

information between Local Exchange 

Carriers (LECs) and Interexchange 

Carriers (IXCs) and to establish carriers’

responsibilities with respect to such 

exchanges. This document corrects the 

instances in the Federal Register which 

an IXC-initiated PIC Order is referred to 

as a Report and Order. 

DATES: The rules in this document 

contain information collection 

requirements that have not been 

approved by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB). The Commission 

will publish a document in the Federal 

Register announcing the effective date 

for these rules. Written comments by the 

public on the new and modified 

information collections are due October 

14, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa 

Boehley, Consumer & Governmental 

Affairs Bureau at (202) 418–2512 

(voice), or e-mail Lisa.Boehley@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Communications Commission 

published a document adopting new 

rules to facilitate the exchange of 

customer account information between 

Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) and 

Interexchange Carriers (IXCs). In the 

Federal Register document 05–10974 

published on June 2, 2005 (70 FR 32258) 

make the following corrections: 

1. On page 32259, under the 

Supplementary Information in the first 

column on line 30, PIC Report and 

Order is corrected to read as PIC Order 

and wherever it appears in the 

Supplementary Information. 

2. In § 64.4002, the introductory text, 

paragraphs (a) introductory text, (b) 

introductory text, (b) (6), (c) 

introductory text; and (d) introductory 

text are corrected to read as follows: 

§ 64.4002 Notification obligations of LECs. 

To the extent that the information is 

reasonably available to a LEC, the LEC 

shall provide to an IXC the customer 

account information described in this 

section consistent with § 64.4004. 

Nothing in this section shall prevent a 

LEC from providing additional customer 

account information to an IXC to the 

extent that such additional information 

is necessary for billing purposes or to 

properly execute a customer’s PIC 

Order. 

(a) Customer-submitted PIC Order. 

Upon receiving and processing a PIC 

selection submitted by a customer and 

placing the customer on the network of 

the customer’s preferred interexchange 

carrier at the LEC’s local switch, the 

LEC must notify the IXC of this event. 

The notification provided by the LEC to 

the IXC must contain all of the customer 

account information necessary to allow 

for proper billing of the customer by the 

IXC including but not limited to: 

* * * * * 

(b) Confirmation of IXC-submitted PIC 

Order. When a LEC has placed a 

customer on an IXC’s network at the 

local switch in response to an IXCsubmitted PIC Order, the LEC must send 

a confirmation to the submitting IXC. 

The confirmation provided by the LEC 

to the IXC must include: 

* * * * * 

(6) The carrier identification code of 

the submitting LEC. If the PIC Order at 

issue originally was submitted by an 

underlying IXC on behalf of a toll 

reseller, the confirmation provided by 

the LEC to the IXC must indicate, to the 

extent that this information is known, a 

statement indicating that the customer’s 

PIC is a toll reseller. 

(c) Rejection of IXC-submitted PIC 

Order. When a LEC rejects or otherwise 

does not act upon a PIC Report and 

Order submitted to it by an IXC, the LEC 

must notify the IXC and provide the 

reason(s) why the PIC Order could not 

be processed. The notification provided 

by the LEC to the IXC must state that it 

has rejected the IXC-submitted PIC 

Order and specify the reason(s) for the 

rejection (e.g., due to a lack of 

information, incorrect information, or a 

PIC freeze on the customer’s account). 

The notification must contain the 

identical data elements that were 

provided to the LEC in the original IXCVerDate Aug<18>2005 15:56 Sep 13, 2005 Jkt 205001 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 4700 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\14SER1.SGM 14SER1