AT&T has welcomed the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) decision to grant it a temporary waiver that paves the way for the telco to roll out WiFi calling.
Under FCC rules, voice services are required to support text telephony (TTY), which enables speech-and-hearing impaired customers to type and send messages instantly over the phone network. The problem is, TTY does not work reliably over WiFi.
Consequently, AT&T petitioned the FCC in June to grant it a TTY waiver. The telco pointed out that it has developed an alternative technology, called real time text (RTT), which works over IP.
AT&T also pointed out that rivals Sprint and T-Mobile US have been offering voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) without a TTY waiver.
The FCC this week granted AT& ;T the necessary waiver and said other telcos can likewise apply for one too.
"Granting the waiver…appears likely to create significant long-term benefits for consumers," the FCC said in an order circulated on Tuesday. This includes consumers with disabilities, the watchdog said, because it will foster the development of IP communication services that support accessibility technologies like RTT.
In addition, the rollout of WiFi calling will not impact the availability of TTY services for disabled customers, the FCC noted.
AT&T’s TTY waiver expires at the end of 2017, or when the FCC formally adopts an alternative technology that works properly over IP, whichever comes first.
"We’re grateful the FCC has granted AT&T’s waiver request so we can begin providing WiFi calling," said Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs at AT&T, in a public policy blog post on Tuesday.
However, he is still not happy that AT&T has received different treatment to Sprint and T-Mobile.
"Instead of initiating enforcement action against them, or at least opening an investigation, the agency has effectively invited them to now apply for similar waivers and implied that their prior flaunting of FCC rules will be ignored," he said.
