Miss-Delectable
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http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=2380
BROADCASTING companies and telecommunications operators have pledged to invest in technology development to help disabled people use and afford their services.
The companies have committed to introduce specially adapted equipment, look at lowering their fees for poor disabled people and research new technologies to help disabled customers.
Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, the SABC, M-Net and e.tv have signed codes of practice issued by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) in which they made these commitments.
The codes were signed this week after two years were spent thrashing out the kinds of services the disabled people expected from them.
Icasa councillor Nadia Bulbulia said SA had about 2,25-million disabled people, which represents “a significant percentage of our population”.
“It cannot be ignored when it comes to the provision of services,” she said.
Icasa said it recognised that the service providers already had various ways to cater for disabled people, such as wheelchair-friendly payphones and handsets for blind users, and that sign language had been added to some television programmes.
“Operators have assured us that they are doing a substantial amount already,” said Bulbulia. She said she believed the new codes would encourage them to do more.
The telecoms operators have pledged to ensure that at least 50% of public payphones were adapted for use by people with hearing aids and wheelchairs. They also plan to phase in more public text phones over three years for deaf users. They said they would be able to fund the new technology through the Universal Service Agency, which collected levies from the industry to subsidise services in rural areas.
Icasa, the operators and the Universal Service Agency plan to discuss further strategies of how to subsidise the special services, particularly those that cellular operators have undertaken to provide. They are expected to cut their fees for disabled and poor people
All role players have undertaken to invest in research to discover new technologies, products and services to make programmes and communication services more accessible for disabled people.
That could include using more subtitles and sign language on television, and using special computer keyboards for disabled employees. They are also expected to train their staff to be sensitive and helpful in handling any problem that disabled users have.
Cell C chairman Talaat Laham said the codes were not very demanding. “It sets a framework to improve the dealings that we have with disabled people,” he said.
Cell C already trained its staff to deal thoughtfully with disabled people and that training would be improved and extended to others, he said. Cell C will also broaden the variety of handsets that it carries for people with various disabilities.
Telkom’s blind and deaf customers are being offered big-button phones, flashing lights to indicate when a phone is ringing and an internal amplification to raise the volume of incoming speech.
Telkom also has a Teldem handset, which allows deaf users to type a message and send it to another Teldem user.
Since text conversations take longer, the new codes expect Telkom to subsidise the rental of text phones and to reduce call fees to compensate.
BROADCASTING companies and telecommunications operators have pledged to invest in technology development to help disabled people use and afford their services.
The companies have committed to introduce specially adapted equipment, look at lowering their fees for poor disabled people and research new technologies to help disabled customers.
Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, the SABC, M-Net and e.tv have signed codes of practice issued by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) in which they made these commitments.
The codes were signed this week after two years were spent thrashing out the kinds of services the disabled people expected from them.
Icasa councillor Nadia Bulbulia said SA had about 2,25-million disabled people, which represents “a significant percentage of our population”.
“It cannot be ignored when it comes to the provision of services,” she said.
Icasa said it recognised that the service providers already had various ways to cater for disabled people, such as wheelchair-friendly payphones and handsets for blind users, and that sign language had been added to some television programmes.
“Operators have assured us that they are doing a substantial amount already,” said Bulbulia. She said she believed the new codes would encourage them to do more.
The telecoms operators have pledged to ensure that at least 50% of public payphones were adapted for use by people with hearing aids and wheelchairs. They also plan to phase in more public text phones over three years for deaf users. They said they would be able to fund the new technology through the Universal Service Agency, which collected levies from the industry to subsidise services in rural areas.
Icasa, the operators and the Universal Service Agency plan to discuss further strategies of how to subsidise the special services, particularly those that cellular operators have undertaken to provide. They are expected to cut their fees for disabled and poor people
All role players have undertaken to invest in research to discover new technologies, products and services to make programmes and communication services more accessible for disabled people.
That could include using more subtitles and sign language on television, and using special computer keyboards for disabled employees. They are also expected to train their staff to be sensitive and helpful in handling any problem that disabled users have.
Cell C chairman Talaat Laham said the codes were not very demanding. “It sets a framework to improve the dealings that we have with disabled people,” he said.
Cell C already trained its staff to deal thoughtfully with disabled people and that training would be improved and extended to others, he said. Cell C will also broaden the variety of handsets that it carries for people with various disabilities.
Telkom’s blind and deaf customers are being offered big-button phones, flashing lights to indicate when a phone is ringing and an internal amplification to raise the volume of incoming speech.
Telkom also has a Teldem handset, which allows deaf users to type a message and send it to another Teldem user.
Since text conversations take longer, the new codes expect Telkom to subsidise the rental of text phones and to reduce call fees to compensate.
