SOUTH JORDAN — A free messaging service for the deaf promises to create 750 new Utah jobs and take handheld mobile devices to a whole new level.

Called IP Relay, the technology by Salt Lake-based Sorenson Communications allows deaf and hard-of-hearing people to place text calls through a mobile device like a BlackBerry, and then have those messages read aloud by a communications assistant to a hearing person.

James Lee Sorenson, chief executive officer of Sorenson Communications, said the service will create 250 new Utah jobs in the next year and 750 jobs by the end of 2007.

"We are hiring at a fast pace right now," Sorenson said at a Tuesday news conference. "Ultimately, you can look to us to have a campus in the future to be able to accommodate the growth."

Nearly 200 people have already been hired by Sorenson at a call center at 10975 Sterling View Drive, Suite 150. The jobs include entry-level and managerial positions, Sorenson said, with part-time and full-time work available. Starting pay is more than $10 an hour.

Jeff Pollock, a deaf instructor at the University of Utah, said Sorenson's IP Relay allows him to contact anyone anywhere.

"I often contact my family and other departments," Pollock said through an American Sign Language interpreter. "If you can imagine the access before, we really didn't have that. To contact other professors, I would have to always contact them in person and get an interpreter."

There are an estimated 100,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people living in Utah, and 28 million nationwide.

Sorenson's IP Relay center already is receiving 1,200 to 1,400 calls per day, according to Michael Jordan, a communication assistant manager for Sorenson Communications. The service is available from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week but is expected to expand into a 24-hour operation.

"If my car broke down on the middle of the freeway, I would just pick up my cell phone and place a phone call and take care of it," Jordan said. "The deaf, before IP Relay came in, they were stuck."

Jennifer Caldwell, a Salt Lake City resident who is deaf, said Sorenson's IP Relay is more comfortable to use and faster than the traditional "TTY" service, which requires a text typewriter to be connected to a phone line and calls for cumbersome key-stroke commands to complete sentences.

"With the other services, my family didn't have any patience," Caldwell said. "Now that I use Sorenson IP Relay, they have said how much they like it. It makes that relationship and communication much better. I usually use Sorenson IP Relay every day."

While calls placed by the deaf are free, Sorenson Communications recoups its costs and profits off a federal fee on land line users' telephone bill. The reimbursement rate runs at $1.28 per minute for each call handled. And since calls are placed through the Internet, no long-distance charges apply.