Background

Case Numbers 23-03-TP-RPT and 08-815-TR-ORD direct all service providers required under federal law to provide customers with access to telecommunications relay service to complete and submit the Telephone Relay Service (TRS) Reporting form through the PUCO's web-based filing system, the PUCO Community, by April 28, 2023. 

Telecommunications relay service (TRS) is a telephone service that allows Ohioans with communication disabilities, for example hearing or speech disabilities, to place and receive telephone calls. 7-1-1 is assigned nationwide for access to TRS. These consumers use special telephone devices known as a text telephone (TTY) or a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD). There is no cost to the TRS user. Additional information is available on the Federal Communications Commission website.

TRS report filing instructions

1. Log in to the PUCO Community. Please see PUCO Community page for help resources and more information.
2. Access the Mandatory Reports filing in the PUCO Community.
3. Complete your TRS form.  Each reporting company is requested to verify and update the docketing contact, who will receive official legal notice or service of process on behalf of the regulated company, and the fiscal contact, who will receive and have authority to pay the annual fiscal assessment invoices.
4. Verify and submit your TRS form and receive an automatic acknowledgment.

Need help filing your TRS form?

Step-by-step instructions are available with the Community User Guide - TRS and Assessment. If you have additional questions, please contact the PUCO at PUCOFiscalSupport@puco.ohio.gov or call the PUCO Call Center at 1-800-686-PUCO (7826).

How to edit or amend the TRS form

You may edit a submitted form at any time prior to the filing deadline. After the deadline, please email PUCOFiscalSupport@puco.ohio.gov for instructions to amend a previously filed report or to request to file a late report.

Telecommunications relay service annual assessment

O.R.C. 4905.84 provides that the PUCO shall collect from each service provider that is required under federal law to provide its customers’ access to TRS an annual assessment to pay for the costs incurred by the TRS provider for providing TRS in Ohio.

For purposes of calculating the TRS annual assessment, O.A.C. 4901:1-6-36 instructs applicable service providers to submit to PUCO staff a completed form, as prescribed by PUCO staff, which contains the number of the service provider’s retail customer access lines or their equivalent. This form is to be utilized by all service providers that are required under federal law to provide its customers access to TRS, including:

• telephone companies,
• commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers, sometimes referred to as wireless providers, and
• providers of advanced services or internet protocol-enabled services that are competitive with or functionally equivalent to voice-grade, end user access lines.

Advanced services and internet protocol-enabled services have the meanings ascribed to them by federal law, including federal regulations. The form is to be submitted using access line or equivalent count data as reported to the Federal Communications Commission Form 477, 499, or other equivalent FCC form as of December 31.

Following the PUCO calculating the assessment based on the TRS forms, TRS filers are usually invoiced and are given a 60-day notice to pay the TRS annual assessment, which is used to pay the cost incurred by the TRS provider for providing TRS service in Ohio.  

Pursuant to O.R.C. 4905.84(D) and O.A.C. 4901:1-6-36(H), the information provided in the TRS report is considered confidential and not published by the PUCO.