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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  03-  190 
 STATEMENT  OF  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL 


 Re:  Telecommunications  Relay  Services  and  Speech-  to-  Speech  Services  for  Individuals  with  Hearing  and  Speech  Disabilities;  CC  Docket  No.  98-  67 
 The  digital  migration  creates  tremendous  opportunities  for  all  Americans.  Our  decision  today  brings  important  innovation  and  additional  choice  to  Americans  with  hearing  disabilities.  For  over  a  decade,  the 
 Telecommunications  Relay  Service  (TRS)  has  enabled  persons  with  hearing  and  speech  disabilities  to  communicate  by  telephone  through  live  intermediaries.  With  the  cooperative  effort  of  hundreds  of 
 communications  carriers,  this  process  has  proved  tremendously  successful.  However  TRS  –  like  all  telecommunications  services  –  cannot  remain  technologically  static.  Instead  we  must  continue  to  ensure 
 that  innovation  in  the  marketplace  yield  greater  opportunities  for  TRS  users. 
 Our  action  today  permits  a  technology  that  generates  live,  word-  for-  word  captions  of  spoken  telephone  conversations  to  become  eligible  for  TRS  funds.  Despite  the  emergence  of  impressive  new  technologies 
 that  can  transfer  speech  to  text  rapidly  and  accurately,  the  Commission’s  TRS  funding  rules  simply  did  not  provide  funds  to  some  new  technologies  that  could  make  communications  with  people  who  are  deaf 
 or  hard  of  hearing  easier  and  faster  than  ever  before. 
 This  Commission  has  dedicated  itself  to  building  on  the  decade  of  TRS  excellence  through  greater  flexibility  and  technological  adaptation.  That  is  the  philosophy  that  supported  our  recent  TRS  Further 
 Notice,  our  IP  Relay  Order  and  today’s  decision.  I  look  forward  to  working  with  my  colleagues,  industry  and  the  disability  community  to  build  on  this  strong  foundation. 
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