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.

Sorenson Communications also provides a video-relay service for the deaf, which allows the deaf to communicate through a video phone with a sign-language interpreter. The sign language is translated in real time, allowing the deaf person and receiver to carry on a conversation. Reimbursement for video relay calls is $6.44 per minute.

Chris Roybal, senior economic adviser to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., called the relay service a tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit of Sorenson's team.

"This technology is some 10 years in the making in terms of bringing that technology to market," Roybal said. "It requires patience. It requires capital. It requires an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that we all know the Sorenson family of companies have had here in the state of Utah."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com