Verizon late last week followed in AT&T’s footsteps by petitioning the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it a waiver that permits it 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 IP networks.
An alternative, called real time text (RTT), is in the works, but Verizon admitted that it will take time to develop and deploy the technology on its network.
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 voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) without one. AT&T was granted its waiver in early October.
"The Commission should grant Verizon the same waiver relief under the rules that it granted to AT&T," said Verizon, in a letter sent on Friday.
Verizon pledged to meet the same conditions established in AT&T’s waiver, namely to inform affected customers that VoIP and WiFi calling do not support TTY calls to emergency services, and to provide them with alternative means of reaching them.
The telco also pledged to keep the FCC up to date with its progress on RTT.
"Verizon is seeking a waiver identical to the waiver granted to AT&T and committing to the same conditions that were fully considered by the Commission on a well-developed record, [so] there is no need for the Commission to seek additional public comment here and the Commission should promptly grant this petition," Verizon said.
