Small Carriers Coming up Short on Hearing Aid Handsets
A growing number of small carriers are warning the FCC they're having trouble finding hearing aid compatible handsets required by the agency, and will miss a deadline. The Commission has ordered carriers to offer at least 2 compliant handsets in stores by today (Mon). A carrier that offers both CDMA and GSM service needs 2 handsets available for each.
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“It’s a difficult position that the smaller carriers are in,” said attorney Ken Johnson, who’s filing waiver requests at the FCC on behalf of 10 small carriers. “They are at the mercy of the manufacturers more so than the nationwide carriers when it comes to FCC mandates.” Johnson said he expects a few months’ delay before handsets are available from the wholesalers serving the small carrier market. The main holdup appears to be certification delays that some manufacturers are encountering, he said. “Some of the manufacturers won’t return my phone calls,” Johnson said: “Nokia and Motorola will actually answer my calls. They're the good guys in this. They want to sell their handsets… There are obviously economic incentives.”
Attorney Robert Jackson said he’s filing waiver requests on behalf of 2 carriers. “They tell me that they have been able to locate one handset model that is compliant that they can currently market, but that they have not located a 2nd model,” he said: “That is because none exists for small carriers… Smaller carriers want to comply but are often precluded from doing so.”
Panhandle Telecom Systems, among those filing at the FCC, asked for a waiver until Jan. 1. “PTSI is fully committed to ensuring access to digital wireless services by individuals with hearing loss,” the carrier said: “However, because CDMA hearing aid compatible handsets that meet the FCC’s inductive coupling requirements are not widely commercially available in sufficient quantity to allow PTSI to obtain them prior to September 18, 2006, PTSI is compelled to seek a waiver.”
PTSI told the Commission it buys handsets through Brightpoint and other handset vendors. “PTSI simply does not have the market power to make deals directly with manufacturers,” the company said: “As the Commission is aware, handset manufacturers have only recently been seeking FCC certification… These certified handsets are unavailable to most small carriers like PTSI since the manufacturers favor nationwide carriers when new products are released.”