Federal Communications Commission FCC 07-186
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
Re:  Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and 
Speech Disabilities, CG Docket No. 03-123.
The services supported by the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund provide vital 
connections for millions of Americans with hearing and speech disabilities.  As communications 
technologies continue to play a greater role in all of our lives, relay services are an increasingly important 
tool.  They help the disability community harness the power of our rapidly-evolving communications 
networks and, more broadly, they help us as a nation to take advantage of our collective strength.  
Even as use of revolutionary technologies like Video Relay Service (VRS), Internet Protocol (IP) 
Relay, and IP Captioned Telephone Service has surged, the Commission’s compensation rate-setting 
process for our relay services has presented a variety of open questions and controversy among providers 
and consumers.  The message was clear from providers and consumers alike that the Commission needed 
to improve its administration of the Fund and to increase awareness of these critical services, so I am 
pleased that we tackle these issues in earnest here.
I commend the Chairman, my colleagues, and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for 
their collective efforts to improve our management of the fund through this Order.  The changes adopted 
here are supported by both consumers and providers, and should provide a more reasonable, transparent, 
and predictable process in future years.  I am also pleased that we provide specific compensation for 
outreach regarding emerging services, like Speech-to-Speech relay services, in this Order.  Finally, I am 
also pleased that we affirm our commitment to the TRS Advisory Council, and that we enlist the 
Council’s assistance in monitoring and reviewing the new methodologies implemented here.
We must always be mindful of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) requirement that 
telecommunications services for those with hearing and speech disabilities be “functionally equivalent” to 
those services provided to hearing individuals, which serves as a continuing challenge for us to improve 
the program.  I look forward to working with my colleagues, our CGB staff, members of the TRS 
Advisory Council, and the many members of the disabilities community on these issues as we move 
forward.