ICT Authority of Turkey (ICTA) Özgür Fatih Akpınar Head of Consumer Rights Department Regulatory perspective on e- accessibility for persons with disabilities: The Turkish Experience IGF İstanbul

Agenda  Problem Definition  Legal Background  ICTA’s Board Decisions  Conclusion

Problem Definition-1  A working group was established in 2011 :  Representatives from various NGOs of the disabled people  Academic institutions  Mobile, fixed and cable operators  The Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication  The Ministry of Family and Social Policies  They prepared a report: identification of problems of the people with disabilities to ICT access and suggestions to solve those problems

Problem Definition-2  The persons with disabilities = 12 % of Turkish population -> 9 million.  The operators had limited services which are designed especially for them  Specifically designed services were not easily accessible by them 4

Problem Definition-3  The people calling a deaf person did not know that the person they are calling is deaf; so, they could not know that they needed to call this person with alternative methods.  The blind people could not access their invoice or quota information which is sent to them by SMS.  Location information was not provided by all mobile operators, so getting lost was a significant problem for blind people. 5

Legal Background  Electronic Communications Law  Information Society Strategy  Strategic Plan of ICTA 6 The Goal To ensure that all consumers including disabled people can equally access ICT services at affordable prices

ICTA’s Board Decisions  Mobile operators are required to provide;  Subscription contracts and bills in Braille alphabet or as voic to blind end-users  Voic to blind end-users when notifying consumers with SMS regarding any change in the terms of tariffs and service provision  Location information,  Voic regarding invoice and quota information,  The information free of charge that “the person you have called is deaf”,  SMS or data only services which do not include voice services.

ICTA’s Board Decisions  All operators were required to:  Make their web sites accessible for persons with disabilities  Extend discounted tariffs applicable for disabled persons to NGOs working for such persons.  Gather all services regarding to disabled people under the same title of their web page.

 The operators became more aware of the specific needs of the disabled persons.  Awareness among the disabled persons regarding the benefits of access to ICT was increased through informative briefs and TV spots.  Many new servicess began to be used. 9 Conclusion

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