Verizon has become the latest telco to receive a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waiver that paves the way for it to launch WiFi calling services.
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 IP networks.
An alternative, called real time text (RTT), is in the works, but it is n ot yet ready for commercial deployment.
As such, Verizon petitioned the FCC in October for a waiver that would allow it to forego TTY support for IP calling services, like voice over WiFi (VoWiFi).
The FCC has granted Verizon "a temporary, limited waiver of the Commission’s requirements to support text telephony technology on wireless networks," said the regulator, in an order issued on Friday.
The waiver expires on 31 December 2017, or when RTT is ready for real-world use, whichever comes first.
Verizon is the second U.S. telco to ask for a TTY waiver.
AT&T petitioned the FCC in June to grant it a TTY waiver, pointing out at the time that rivals Sprint and T-Mobile US have been offering VoWiFi without one. AT&T was granted its waiver in early October.
