{"id":"AIBD-0998","title":"The FCC finds that fully automatic phone captions cost providers about $0.60 per minute in 2023, against $1.04 with human assistants","summary":"The FCC found that providers' allowable expenses averaged about $0.60 per minute for fully automatic captions in 2023, against $1.04 with assistants. Automatic captions carried 74.6% of minutes.","date_observed":"2023-01-01","date_basis":"event","date_precision":"year","benefit_status":"reported","source_collection":null,"source_entry":null,"account":"Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service lets people with hearing loss read captions of their phone calls. The Interstate TRS Fund pays providers for each minute. The FCC ruled in 2018 that captions could come from automatic speech recognition alone, and from 2020 its Bureau certified providers to offer them. In an order adopted on 31 July 2024, the FCC analyzed cost reports from the five providers paid for the service in 2023. It found that allowable expenses averaged about $0.60 per minute for automatic captions in 2023, against $1.04 with communications assistants. Automatic captions carried 43.5% of compensable minutes in 2022, 74.6% in 2023 and a projected 84.5% in 2024. At the single rate of $1.30 per minute, automatic minutes earned a 116.7% operating margin in 2023. The FCC therefore set an automatic rate that falls from $1.17 to $0.95 per minute by 2026-27. It raised the assisted rate to $1.35. The FCC noted that some users still prefer assisted captions. It also noted that some research indicates that speech recognition may transcribe some voices less accurately.","category":"aggregate result","unexpected":false,"purpose":"IP CTS providers and their speech recognition vendors built fully automatic captioning to caption phone calls for people with hearing loss without a communications assistant.","system":"ASR-only (fully automatic) Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS), as provided by FCC-certified providers","model_version":null,"developer":"The certified IP CTS providers and their speech recognition vendors (not named in the order)","deployer":"FCC-certified IP CTS providers paid from the Interstate TRS Fund (five were paid for IP CTS in 2023)","location":"United States","domain":"Telecommunications relay services / accessibility for people with hearing loss","segment":null,"benefit_type":"Reduced Task Cost","work_activities":["4.A.3.b.6"],"taxonomy_note":"The lower cost accrues to providers and, through the new rates, to the TRS Fund, which pays for the whole service.","registry_ids":{},"ratings":[{"group":"organizational","depth":1,"reason":"Providers' allowable expenses for automatic captions averaged about $0.60 per minute in 2023, against $1.04 per minute with assistants."},{"group":"societal","depth":null,"reason":"The TRS Fund paid $1.30 per minute for both modes until this order, so its savings depend on the automatic rate that falls from $1.17 to $0.95 per minute."}],"ai_role":{"status":"assessed","statement":"The order compares the cost of captions by speech recognition alone with the cost of captions by assistants, who also work with speech recognition. The gap between them is the saving from dropping the assistant. The costs are provider reports that the FCC screened for allowable expenses, and figures for each provider are confidential. The order does not show that the recognizers learn from data."},"evidence":[{"kind":"regulatory document","citation":"Federal Communications Commission. Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81, CG Docket Nos. 22-408, 03-123 and 13-24 (Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service compensation). Adopted and released 31 July 2024. Public version, para. 20.","title":"Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81 (IP CTS compensation)","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf","date":"2024-07-31","written_by":"independent","quote":"For 2023, historical allowable expenses reported by providers average approximately $0.60 per minute for ASR-only IP CTS and $1.04 per minute for CA-assisted IP CTS, a cost difference of $0.44 per minute."},{"kind":"regulatory document","citation":"Federal Communications Commission. Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81, CG Docket Nos. 22-408, 03-123 and 13-24 (Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service compensation). Adopted and released 31 July 2024. Public version, n. 58.","title":"Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81 (IP CTS compensation)","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf","date":"2024-07-31","written_by":"independent","quote":"Once ASR-only service was introduced by most providers, it quickly became the most commonly used service mode—averaging 43.5% of compensable minutes in 2022, 74.6% in 2023, and a projected 84.5% in 2024."},{"kind":"regulatory document","citation":"Federal Communications Commission. Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81, CG Docket Nos. 22-408, 03-123 and 13-24 (Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service compensation). Adopted and released 31 July 2024. Public version, para. 2.","title":"Report and Order and Order, FCC 24-81 (IP CTS compensation)","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf","date":"2024-07-31","written_by":"independent","quote":"Although the unit cost of producing captions is substantially lower when a CA is not involved, usage data show that some consumers continue to prefer CA-assisted captions when given a choice, and there also is evidence that, for some calls, CA-assisted captioning is still the most accurate method."}],"replication":{"produced_by":["Every IP CTS provider was authorized to caption calls with speech recognition alone, under certifications issued from 2020.","The TRS Fund paid one rate of $1.30 per minute for automatic and assisted captions until this order.","Some providers let users choose the captioning method, and others chose it for them."],"must_hold":["Provider cost reports must be reliable enough to set rates on.","Assisted captioning must remain available for calls where users prefer it or need it for accuracy."],"echoes":[]},"paired_incident":null,"headline":"Automatic phone captions cost $0.44 per minute less than assisted ones","metric":"about $0.60 per minute for fully automatic captions in 2023","comparator":{"against":"CA-assisted IP CTS, captioned with communications assistants, in 2023","before":"$1.04 per minute","after":"$0.60 per minute","basis":"measured","quote":"For 2023, historical allowable expenses reported by providers average approximately $0.60 per minute for ASR-only IP CTS and $1.04 per minute for CA-assisted IP CTS, a cost difference of $0.44 per minute.","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf"},"later":null,"value":{"amount":"$0.44 per minute","what":"Lower average allowable expense per minute of ASR-only IP CTS than of CA-assisted IP CTS in 2023","who":"IP CTS providers, and the Interstate TRS Fund through the lower ASR-only rate","estimate":false,"quote":"For 2023, historical allowable expenses reported by providers average approximately $0.60 per minute for ASR-only IP CTS and $1.04 per minute for CA-assisted IP CTS, a cost difference of $0.44 per minute.","url":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf"},"developer_country":null,"deployer_country":null,"unrated_because":null,"brief_notes":null,"brief":null,"revisions":[{"date":"2026-11-01","change":"Added the record from the finding of the FCC.","source":"https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-24-81A1.pdf","editor":"AIBD"}],"confidence":"found","shade":"high","claim_status":"Found by a regulator","claim_basis":"Sources: one independent regulatory document. 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