Inclusive services

In each of our country markets the number of mobile phones outstrips or is very close to the population count.

We believe that mobile services should be accessible to all types of customers, regardless of cost, special needs, age, knowledge and geography.

We offer various mobile tariffs to suit customer needs and lifestyles. These include services at lower cost in chosen areas – usually close to a customer’s home or business or through reduced-rate international services.

Our pre-pay services equip customers and users of all ages and social groups to budget for their mobile use. Our commercial partnership with Tesco in the UK allows pre-pay customers to call both landlines and all mobile networks for a flat rate. In Germany the partnership with Tchibo allow post-pay customers to call landlines for a flat rate.

With strong market growth and increasing competition, the cost of mobile has in fact reduced by about two thirds since its introduction 20 years ago. Our services are more accessible than ever to increasing numbers of people.

Any inability to access information and communications technology creates what is often referred to as the digital divide. We also examine ways to make our services more inclusive, through offering good value services and also in serving people with special needs.

The ‘Universal Service Obligations’ are designed to ensure that a set of basic telecommunication services will always be available an affordable price. These coverage obligations do not currently include mobile operators: they apply to fixed-line networks. In the Czech Republic, we offer a ‘mini-tariff’ for our fixed-line service, which is available to economically disadvantaged groups.

In 2006 the Irish regulator ComReg set up a Disability Forum and conducted a survey of mobile phone operators to assess their approach to services for disabled people. Telecommunications companies in Ireland are looking at introducing new initiatives for this customer group. Having responded to this in early 2007, we expect a draft report soon.

During the year we shared best practice on disability with Telefónica in Spain, where special needs is seen as a distinct marketplace.

This is a developing area of interest for O2 and one at which we will begin to look at more in 2007, especially in Ireland where our business takes the lead on issues of diversity.

We took part in the UK Government’s Digital Inclusive Panel which contributed to the UK Digital Strategy. We comply with the General Code 15 and the Code of Practice for Service Delivery for the Disabled and Elderly in the UK. We belong to the Employers Forum for the Disabled and the Two Ticks scheme, which raises disability awareness among employers. In Ireland, we have launched a handset for the visually impaired with special ‘talk’ software that converts text to voice.

O2 makes provision for those with special needs. For instance in the UK this includes invoicing in Braille, using larger text size, audio options and a fully accessible website, O2 Access, for people with visual impairments.

O2 Ireland has raised awareness of dyslexia internally, providing managers with guidelines on communications, showing employees how to view web pages in larger font sizes and making internal communications more accessible. 

We have also revised our customer-care letters, reducing them in length, writing them in simpler English and bulleting information where possible.

 

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