FCC Sets VRS Rates the Same-For Now

The FCC has issued an order adopting the NECA’s recommended rates for VRS for this year, subject to the current rulemaking process which is currently underway.  The FCC could at the conclusion of the process, decide to revise or make the rates stay the same.

The NECA is a third-party, non-profit organization that is contracted by the FCC to collect costs and other data to help the FCC determine reimbursement rates for TRS  (Telecommunications Relay Service) and VRS (Video Relay Service).  Every year, early in the year all TRS and VRS provides submit their costs and projections for the following year to NECA.  NECA then reviews them and makes recommendations to the FCC.  The FCC, before July 1st, sets the rates for the following year.  In the case of VRS, as previously mentioned, they set and froze the rates from 2007-2010, but they just issued a rulemaking process which may change the rates for 2009 or a time frame they could decide.

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For 2009-2010, the VRS rates are as follows:  tiered rates of $6.7025 for the first 50,000 monthly minutes, $6.4352 for monthly minutes between 50,001 and 500,000, and $6.2372 for minutes above 500,000.

For 2009-2010, the TRS rates are as follows:  $1.8311 per minute for interstate traditional TRS;  $2.9621 per minute for interstate Speech-to-Speech (STS); $1.6778 per minute for interstate captioned telephone service (CTS) and intrastate and interstate Internet Protocol (IP) captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and $1.2801 per minute for intrastate and interstate IP Relay.

The reimbursement  for the fund comes from all the telephone providers (carrier contribution factor) at 0.01137 cents per minute.  This comes out to a total of $890,992,075 to fund TRS and VRS services.

The PDF copy of the FCC order can be found at this link.