Geneva, 25 November 2011 Next generation relay services in Australia Sandy Gilliland Chief Executive Officer Australian Communication Exchange (ACE) ITU-T

Geneva, 25 November 2011

Next generation relay services in Australia

Sandy GillilandChief Executive Officer

Australian Communication Exchange (ACE)

ITU-T Workshop on“Telecommunications relay services for persons

with disabilities ”

(Geneva, 25 November 2011)

Geneva, 25 November 2011 2

Presentation outline

Background on ACE and Australian relay servicesThe National Broadband Network - a truly enabling infrastructureOur Vision for the futureChallenges and opportunities A change in philosophy to shape legislation, regulation and funded services

Introducing ACE



ACE is a national not-for-profit

The organisation is dedicated to enabling communication access for Deaf, hearing impaired and speech impaired AustraliansOur Vision is ‘Access to Communication for Everyone’The organisation has a unique mix of technological expertise and community passion which inspires us to advance communication solutions in Australia

Source: Senator Stephen Conroy address to Huawei Digital Inclusion Summit

Relay services available in Australia



History of Australian relay services

The National Relay Service (NRS) was introduced in 1995Access to the NRS is legislated under the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Services Standards) Act 1999Funding is through a levy on carriers with a gross revenue of $10 million+Services are evolving, though not nearly as rapidly as telecommunications for the wider community


The National Relay Service (NRS) is under review

Today, NRS users can access:TTY services including emergency accessSpeech impaired servicesInternet relay services (one way)

The Australian Government is in the midst of a major NRS review with a view to maximising the benefits from newer technologies and applications.

Opportunities from a National Broadband Network



Australia will soon have a reliable andubiquitous high speed broadband

The Australian Government has committed ~$27.5 Billion to deliver a National Broadband Network (NBN)The NBN is an internationally acclaimed enabling infrastructureThe vision is that Australia will be a leading digital economy by 2020 and will be among the top five OECD countries by the percentage of households connected to broadband


There are recognised challenges tobridging the digital divide

The Australian Government has recognised the challenge in bridging the digital divideIn 2008-09, 26 percent of Australians over the age of 15 did not use the internet. The figure is much higher for older, disabled and indigenous Australians37 percent of people aged 55-64 and 69 percent of people over 65 did not use the internet

Source: Senator Stephen Conroy address to Huawei Digital Inclusion Summit


Equally, there are opportunities toincrease digital literacy

Households have affordable accessHealth and aged care services can be delivered remotelyEducation opportunities will be more accessibleTelework opportunities will emergeGovernment services can be more accessibleRegional Australians will be connected to the digital economy

Our Vision for the future is Access to Communication for Everyone



Our Vision echoes a GPII Ultimately we wish to see:

Accessible technology become ubiquitousInteroperability between disability and standard devices increaseAccess become affordableInnovation derived from lower market entry costsConsumer choice expanding; andRegardless of the disability, the user has their accessibility features on any device, any time, anywhere

Challenges and opportunities have emerged through our work



Captioned telephony enables functionally equivalent access

The trial service has been incredible, empowering service and is the best available solution to offer functionally equivalent telephone callsACE’s trial participants have reported growing independence, confidence and workplace productivity The community has requested web and handset captioned telephony for the next generation services


However, the presence of a third party creates some concerns

Benefits:Conversations are fast

and natural for the userThe user has less call

refusals from businesses and call centresThere is an enhanced

feeling of privacy and personalisation for calls between families and friends

Concerns:The presence of a third

party is not apparent to the hearing personCaption records could be

misused

CapTel® has removed the feeling that a third party Relay Officer is involved


The different services options are alsoviewed differently by the legislation

Web version X Currently in

breach of the TIA

Handset version Permissible in the

TIA


Our next accessibility investments also

face legislative challengesACE is leveraging widely available smart phone devices to shift disability access design in Australia and internationally


This is the world’s first smart phoneemergency access channel

The ACE Board fast-tracked this application because it meets a critical need for our communities to have a mobile emergency access channelThe Australian Government will trial this application in 2011/2012It has been deemed the world’s first Government sanctioned emergency app


The opportunities to enhance thisapplication are cost effective

ACE and the Australian Government have started discussing the next developments

Moving forward we need to view relay services and disability

access in a different light



There are different philosophies whichunderpin relay service provision

In our view, there are three different philosophies applied in different nationsRelay services are funded with the intention of providing either:1. Telecommunications access 2. Social welfare3. Functional equivalence

Australia has traditionally worked on the grounds of the first philosophy


We promote a functional equivalencephilosophy

There are important reasons to promote this change

Functional equivalence recognises that social inclusion is more than a right, it makes economic senseThrough functionally equivalent services disabled citizens can access all facets of a prosperous fulfilling life – education, careers, family life, health, culture etc.Functional equivalence promotes the need to keep pace with technology


Questions

Sandy Gillilandwww.aceinfo.net.auE: [email protected]

http://www.aceinfo.net.au/

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Geneva, 25 November 2011 Next generation relay services in Australia Sandy Gilliland Chief Executive Officer Australian Communication Exchange (ACE) ITU-T