Nigeria’s Communications Commission, NCC, says it is considering using assistive technology to address unmet needs in the nation’s telecommunications sector.
He also said that the technology, when implemented, would help meet its universal access and service obligations (UASO) in accordance with the recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The Executive Vice President of the TGS Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, stated this at a virtual conference on the development program of assistive technology in telecommunications to address unmet needs held in Abuja.
He said that the Commission decided to turn to TA through universal design in all forms of telecommunications service design, in order to address these unmet needs.
It further explained that the assignment of assistive technology functions is an additional and novel regulatory approach to meet the universal service and access obligation.
“An important requirement of a public services regulator like the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC is to be in continuous compliance with its Universal Access and Service Obligations (UASO)).
“Achieving this mandate implies paying due attention to the development of new media and, in particular, to the approaches of availability, accessibility and usability.
“Despite the underlying design or manufacturing philosophy adopted, it is very important to meet this wide variety of needs in the original design of telecommunications systems, so that an increasing number of users can benefit from the services available.
“Bearing in mind that both accessibility and usability may differ for the individual depending on physical abilities, as well as it may differ for the specific transactions of the sectors that we seek to help.”
Through its different WPs, SG-16 develops the capacity to handle different information media and control actions that vary within wide limits between users of telecommunications and multimedia services.
“In addition, AT complies with the recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) through Study Group 16, that the Working Groups (WP) deal with Multimedia,” said Danbatta. “
In Nigeria, the EVC said that much success had been achieved in opening up the telecommunications space and that it is timely to move the attention to design for all (DfA) or universal design (UD), which may lead to the offering of devices that They are accessible and usable in their entirety.
“This consideration, however, will highlight some inherent technical and social implications that only regulatory and legislative interventions can solve.
“In addition, it will support several new thematic actions that will be established in the national context,” he added.
For the physically disabled, Danbatta said that assistance is not only necessary, but must also be provided, and said that, in the national interest, assistance is required especially with new media in surveillance, immigration, surveillance, trade, etc.
