Convo Joins Opposition to ITTA Petition on TRS Fund Line-Item Fees; Stigma Worries Raised
Convo Communications joined a group of "enterprise users" in opposing an ITTA petition that asked the FCC to ensure carrier telecom relay service fund costs can be passed on to consumers through specific line-item fees, while AT&T and Verizon continued…
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to back it. "As a deaf owned and operated company which provides [TRS], Convo is of the view that ITTA’s request to identify TRS as a line item description in customer bills subverts the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) mandate of telecommunications as a universally available service and consequentially would segregate and stigmatize TRS as a 'special' need which adds cost to ratepayers, but is done to provide a 'social' service for the disabled," said the video relay service provider's filing posted Thursday in docket 03-123. Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and other groups took no position on the petition proposal but said they "hope that the Commission, carriers, and other stakeholders will join accessibility organizations in making clear to the public that TRS is not just a regulatory fee, but a service that is beneficial to the general public because it allows all individuals to communicate with each other."