Sorenson, Convo, Purple Ask FCC to Bring Stability to VRS Market

said, VRS compensation was $44.2 million in August, down from $54.5 million in May 2010, forcing providers to cut costs while trying to maintain service quality. Innovation and support technology will come from VRS providers, not government, and industry needs "greater financial stability over the next five years," said a Sorenson filing Tuesday in docket 03-123. Convo Communications and Purple Communications executives met with FCC officials about VRS market conditions, including the impact of implementing "dramatic VRS rate cuts on competitive providers' viability and ability to compete for market share." Sorenson is the top provider. "Although the 2013 VRS Reform Order set forth reforms intended to enable competitive providers to grow market share and reduce costs concurrently with the declining rates, those structural reforms have yet to be realized in the market even as rates have dropped," said a Convo/Purple filing on discussions with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Ajit Pai, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. "The need for VRS rate structure reform that will help stabilize the marketplace and the potential components of such reform were discussed." Sorenson and affiliate CaptionCall, which joined its filing, also suggested various steps the FCC could take to ensure IP captioned telephone services are provided to consumers "who actually need them," including by having users screened by independent hearing health professionals to certify their needs.