OVERLAND PARK, Kan.,
Dec. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint
(NYSE: S) has been selected to provide Telecommunications Relay
Service (TRS) and Captioned Telephone (CapTel) services to the
state of Maine, effective
January 1. The Maine
Telecommunications Relay Service Council (MeTRS) chose Sprint
Accessibility technologies for its Maine Relay Service.
"We are looking forward to working with the Maine
Telecommunications Relay Service Council to provide Maine Relay
Service to Maine's residents,"
said Mike Ellis, Global Vice
President of accessibility for Sprint. "Sprint Accessibility
provides an exciting array of services making communication for
people who are deaf, deaf blind, hard of hearing or who have a
speech disability more accessible than ever."
Maine Relay Service is accessed by dialing 711, and is available
24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is a "relay" or service that
enables those who are deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, or speech
disabled to communicate with traditional telephone users through a
specialized text telephone and third-party operator called a relay
operator. All calls are completely confidential.
"As chairman for the Maine Telecommunications Relay Service
Council, I am excited to have Sprint Accessibility be the new TRS
provider for Maine Relay Service," said Bill Nye, chairperson - Maine Telecommunications
Relay Service Council.
While the use of traditional relay services has declined due to
advanced technologies, the use of captioned telephones (CapTel) and
Relay Conference Captioning (RCC) for those who are hard of hearing
continues to increase. Traditional relay, CapTel and RCC are all
administered by the MeTRS.
RCC is a free service for anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing
to engage in meetings (in-person or remote), group conversations in
a videoconference and multi-party conference call. Using the same
high-quality captioners that produce closed captioning for
television, RCC users receive real-time text streamed to any
connected device.
For more information about Maine Relay Service, please visit
www.maine.gov/trs, or for more information on Sprint's suite of
accessibility services, please visit:
www.sprint.com/accessibility.
About Maine Telecommunications Relay Service Council
The TRS Council is a legislatively created body that oversees the
deployment of Relay Service in Maine, including having the responsibility for
choosing the State Relay provider. In addition, the Council has
oversight of outreach efforts in the State, and the Council has the
authority to enter into pilot projects to promote
telecommunications services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in
Maine. The Council is funded
through the Maine Universal Service Fund.
About Sprint Accessibility
For 28 years, Sprint Accessibility has been a leader in the
development of advanced Relay services. As the
telecommunications industry has evolved from corded, rotary dial
phones to cordless home phones to mobile voice and data
communicators, Sprint has been an innovator for consumers and
businesses. Sprint provides Relay services to 37 state
customers (including Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the
U.S. Federal Government, and the Commonwealth of New Zealand.
As the largest provider of Relay services, Sprint is proud to serve
our customers in the manner they deserve. For more
information on Sprint Accessibility's suite of accessibility
services, please visit: www.sprint.com/accessibility or
www.twitter.com/sprintaccess.
About Sprint
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company
that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to
the things they care about most. Sprint served 54.5 million
connections as of Sept. 30, 2018 and
is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying
innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service
from a national carrier in the United
States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile
USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance
Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk
capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Today,
Sprint's legacy of innovation and service continues with an
increased investment to dramatically improve coverage, reliability,
and speed across its nationwide network and commitment to launching
the first 5G mobile network in the U.S. You can learn more and
visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and
www.twitter.com/sprint.
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SOURCE Sprint