Access to communications services often poses particular difficulties for people with disabilities, even though such services may be more important to them than to the population at large.
Adequate access is essential to enable all to play a full part in today's society.
The existing legislation accordingly places general duties on the regulators to take account of the needs of disabled users, and specifies particular requirements for their benefit. These duties and requirements, including requirements recently introduced on access to public call boxes by wheelchair users, and on the availability of public text-phone terminals, will be carried forward into the future regulatory framework. Access to television services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are blind or partially sighted is also important so that they can play a full part in society. That is why in April we introduced half price television licences for blind people. New technology has huge potential for improving services for such groups and we will want to ensure that as many as possible are able to benefit.