2. General Requirements
2.1 Purpose
The primary purpose of the TRS is to facilitate telephone communications between Deaf, hearing impaired, and speech impaired people, and anyone who is able to use a standard telephone.
To use the TRS, it is expected that:
- the person who has difficulty hearing or speaking on the telephone will communicate with the TRS by means of text communications3; and
- the person who is able to use a standard telephone will need no equipment other than a standard telephone4 to communicate with the TRS.
However, a trial of speech-to-speech will be conducted (see 3.2 ii).
2.2 Scope
The TRS operation will need to employ and train suitable staff to work as Relay Assistants to provide the services described in section 3.1 of this document. In general, the Relay Assistant will act as an intermediary to assist in telephone based communication between a Deaf, hearing impaired or speech impaired person and a hearing person.
The TRS provider will be free to provide additional optional services outside the scope of this service description but which are not inconsistent with the core purpose of the TRS. Such additional services would be provided on a commercial basis, i.e. outside the funding framework of the Telecommunications Service Obligation (see 2.3). The TRS provider will be required to make an enforceable commitment to refrain from engaging in the provision of services that are likely to be regarded as inconsistent with the core purpose of the TRS.
2.3 Principles of Operation
The TRS will operate under the following basic principles:
i. Telecommunications Services Obligation:
The services and functions specified in this TRS service description will be funded by being declared a Telecommunications Services Obligation under the Telecommunications Act 2001.
ii. Language:
The TRS must support the English language in providing text-to-speech, speech-to-text, hearing carry over or voice carryover conversions.
Note: The need to support Maori language will be considered as part of the one year review carried out by MED.
iii. 24 x 7 Access:
The TRS will operate 24 hours per day, 365 days a year.
iv. Privacy:
The TRS services will be required to be provided in a way that complies with the Privacy Act 1993 and the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2002. The provider of the TRS will need to safeguard the privacy of people using the service. This will include the protection of messages passing through the TRS system and any associated user information. The TRS will be expected to use an appropriate code of ethics to assist in meeting its obligations in this respect.
v. Emergency Services Access:
Textphone users will use the existing emergency service access number5. The TRS Provider and the Advisory Committee will be required to look into the feasibility of introducing a short code for emergency service access, after the establishment of the TRS (see 3.6). The TRS will answer calls to this number with the highest priority. Under this arrangement the TRS Relay Assistants will act as an intermediary to relay the emergency service call to either the Telecom 111 emergency service centre or alternatively route calls direct to the appropriate emergency service provider. Tenders are to propose the most cost effective approach that will ensure a satisfactory emergency service quality.
vi. Ease of Access and Use:
Where possible barriers to use of the service should be minimised. The TRS should be easy to use whether on a casual or a regular basis. In general, options that support non-registration for the majority of calls but otherwise require the TRS to register and bill users for other (chargeable) calls, will be favoured.
vii. TRS Call Service Pricing:
Where users pay for a TRS call service the objective is to ensure that the TRS call service pricing is comparable to the prices of equivalent call services not involving the TRS. Comparable pricing is sought because it would be very difficult and expensive for the TRS to provide the full range of telephone call rates offered in the market. This is because there are many call rate plans and specials offered by call service providers to meet the requirements of users. Instead, the TRS will be expected to make available to its users rate plans that meet its users' key needs and which are comparable to those normally available in the market, but subject to any technical and operational limiting factors.
viii. Choice of Local or Mobile Access Telecommunications Provider:
There are a number of telecommunications providers in New Zealand who provide access to telephone services to Deaf, hearing impaired or speech impaired users. These customers should be able to port their numbers or change provider in a similar way to other customers.6
ix. TRS Provider Arrangements:
Provision of the TRS will be tendered from time to time. The first service contract will be for a period of 3-5 years. The TRS provider will be free to use a service provider of its choice for provision of any telecommunications services that it needs to purchase in the market. The TRS may from time to time change its telecommunications services supplier(s).
x. TRS Telephone Numbers:
The telephone numbering scheme implemented for access to the TRS should be designed to be easy to use and in a way that minimises the need for future numbering changes. The TRS access code(s) should be the same for all networks.
xi. Cost Effectiveness
The TRS should provide its services in a cost effective manner. The TRS provider will be required to make summary financial/cost statistics publicly available that will facilitate tracking of the key operational cost parameters (for example the average cost per call minute, total call minutes, local call minutes, national and international call minutes etc).
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