Australia's Telstra has made 2,000 Melbourne payphones SMS ready for an estimated 30,000 international visitors attending the 2005 Deaflympic Games. The upgrade of payphones in Melbourne, Ballarat, Wendouree and Creswick means everyone has another way of sending SMS and Deaf people can make contact with all users of Australian mobiles without needing an interpreter service.
Telstra Group Manager Community Relations, Ms Maria Simpson, said as a proud sponsor of the 2005 Deaflympic Games, Telstra would also be enabling some payphones with Teletypewriters (TTY) in Melbourne and Ballarat.
"Telstra is committed to the development of better, smarter ways to meet the needs of the Deaf and hearing impaired communities, and we consistently strive to find creative solutions to meet the needs of these customers," she said.
"SMS is one of the main forms of communication for the Deaf community as it allows Deaf people to communicate with Deaf and hearing people alike. Enabling payphones to send SMS means we have just made it a little easier for Deaf people to communicate."
"In early 2005 the Deaf community will be able to use a new Fixed SMS service, which will allow SMS to be sent and received via a newly designed home telephone handset."
Melbourne and Ballarat area-based SMS payphones will remain after the Games are finished. Telstra has enabled approximately 14,000 payphones across Australia with SMS functionality. In the coming 12 months the remaining payphones will be upgraded. The cost to send a SMS from a payphone is 20 cents."
Posted to the site on 10th January 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/11634.php