On July 1, 2020, the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (“Bureau”) released a Public Notice seeking comment on three petitions from or on behalf of non-tier I mobile providers concerning the deadline for real-time text (“RTT”) (CG Docket No. 16-145 and GN Docket No. 15-178). The RTT Order established a June 30, 2020 deadline for non-tier I mobile providers to support RTT.
- The Competitive Carriers Association (“CCA”) requests a temporary waiver of the deadline on behalf of six participating members in lieu of using TTY technology on IP-based networks or, in the alternative, a ruling that compliance with the accessibility requirements is not readily achievable by the deadline.
- East Kentucky Network d/b/a Appalachian Wireless (“EKN”) also requests a temporary extension of the deadline or a ruling that compliance is not readily achievable.
- Both CCA and EKN recommend that the Commission extend the waiver for each petitioner to one year after the date the provider executes a contract with a network vendor for installation and deployment of RTT or the date COVID-19-related access restrictions that interfere with deployment are lifted, whichever is later.
- US Cellular seeks a waiver of rules requiring the use of RTT in lieu of TTY on IP-based networks and an extension of the deadline to December 31, 2020.
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