FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 21, 2010

TIA Applauds the House Energy & Commerce Committee for Improvements to the '21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act'

Washington, D.C. – Following this morning's action by the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy & Commerce Committee, which favorably reported H.R. 3101, the "21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act," the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) released the following statement:

"TIA applauds the commitment of the bipartisan Committee Leadership, Chairmen Henry Waxman (CA) and Rick Boucher (VA) and Ranking Members Joe Barton (TX) and Cliff Stearns (FL), as well as the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Ed Markey (MA), to work to address the concerns of industry throughout the drafting and committee consideration of this legislation. Under their leadership, and with the Committee's input today, the bill has significantly improved over the course of the past few months.

"TIA appreciates the Committee's commitment to ensuring that the bill meets the dual goals of ensuring the continued availability of accessible technology without hampering the technological innovation that is the hallmark of America's information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Further, we are pleased that the bill reported from Committee today includes consensus language on Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) that TIA negotiated with the accessibility community late last year.

"TIA has a long history of working closely with the Hearing Loss Association of America and Gallaudet University to develop the standards, including the TIA-1083 standard that reduces noise and interference in digital cordless phones when used by people with T-Coil-equipped hearing aids or Cochlear implants. The standard has been updated to apply to newer technologies with digital interfaces, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, and USB.

"We appreciate the Committee's leadership and we remain committed to working with members throughout the remainder of the process."

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About TIA
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry through standards development, advocacy, tradeshows, business opportunities, market intelligence and world-wide environmental regulatory analysis. Since 1924, TIA has been enhancing the business environment for broadband, mobile wireless, information technology, networks, cable, satellite and unified communications. Members' products and services empower communications in every industry and market, including healthcare, education, security, public safety, transportation, government, the military, the environment and entertainment.

TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Visit tiaonline.org.

TIA's Board of Directors from includes senior-level executives from ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, ANDA Networks, AttivaCorp, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Inc., GENBAND, Inc., Henkels & McCoy, ILS Technology, Intel Corporation, Intersect, Inc., LGE, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, OneChip Photonics, Openwave, Inc., Panasonic Computer Solutions Co., Powerwave Technologies, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation, Tellabs, Tyco Electronics, Ulticom, Inc., Walker & Associates and WirefreeCom, Inc. Advisors to the Board include FAL Associates and Telcordia Technologies.

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