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’sresidents," 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.

https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-selected-as-state-maines-telecommunications-relay-services-provider.htm