Letter from AT&T to FCC says competitor Wi-Fi calling service not in line with disability requirements
In a letter sent to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Oct. 1, AT&T alleges that competitors Sprint and T-Mobile US are offering a Wi-Fi calling service that doesn’t conform to accessibility rules relates to calls placed by people with hearing problems.
Specifically, the FCC requires all voice calls to support teletypewriter (TTY) functionality, which enables text-based communication over a telephone call.
AT&T Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs James Cicconi wrote to Wheeler that AT&T made the decision not to offer Wi-Fi calling services because of the lack of TTY support; to go forward with offering the service, the FCC would have to issue a waiver to the requirement.
Cicconi wrote that because TTY devices “do not operate reliably on certain IP-based networks, particularly Wi-Fi networks” AT&T made the decision to “approach the Commission with a technology solution that would provide an alternative to TTY technology for IP-based Wi-Fi calls and a request for a temporary waiver of the Commission’s TTY requirements until that technology could be implemented. We chose the latter as the only appropriate path for moving forward with this new calling capability.”
However, Cicconi wrote, “We were aware that at least two competitors, T-Mobile and Sprint, were already advertising and providing Wi-Fi calling services without having sought or obtained a waiver of the Commission’s TTY rules.”
AT&T came up with real-time text (RTT) as an alternative to TTY and, in June, filed a request for waiver of the existing rules covering TTY, as well as a proposal to amend applicable rules to include RTT as an authorized alternative.
It took the FCC six week to post a public notice of the AT&T filing, which then kicked in a 45-day comment period, which ended in September and drew no opposition to the waiver request.
“We anticipate that our competitors will continue to tout their Wi-Fi calling services for competitive advantage. There is a growing concern at AT&T that there is an asymmetry in the application of federal regulations to on the one hand and its marketplace competitors on the other hand. This situation simply adds fuel to that fire.”
Cicconi concludes by asking Wheeler and the FCC to approve AT&T’s waiver and allow the carrier “to offer its customers Wi-Fi calling capabilities and correct the asymmetry that today exists between and its mobile services competitors over remaining in compliance with existing FCC regulations when deploying new services.”
