FCC VRS Rate Order Circulating; Item Seen Addressing Small Provider Rate Freeze

The FCC circulated a draft video relay service item last week, according to its list of such items. An agency spokesman confirmed Monday it's an order on VRS rates. The commission late last year proposed freezing the "Tier 1" compensation rates of the three smallest VRS providers at their June 30, 2015, level for 16 months between July 1, 2015, and Oct. 31, 2016. Without relief, the rates are subject to reductions under the agency's schedule of rate cuts. The circulating order "involves the Tier I rate freeze for the smallest 3 VRS providers," said Jeff Rosen, general counsel of Convo Communications, one of the three small VRS providers. "The Commission proposed the rate freeze based on the information in the record indicating that a rate freeze was necessary to provide a true opportunity for the 3 smallest and minority-owned providers to grow to scale and compete. No commenters opposed the proposed rate freeze," he emailed Monday. "Immediate action is needed by the Commission to avert placing the smallest providers & their consumers at risk in going out of business due to the lack of a temporary opportunity granted by the Commission to compete."