Page 17 - Sphere No.13 (Dec 2004)
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for all deaf people.”
Fellow subscriber Hans Smedberg con-
curred: “3 didn’t realise what they did
when they gave us the opportunity of
unlimited phone calls. We talk all the
time. It feels like a gift from above.”
The enthusiasm amongst this niche
market came as a pleasant surprise to the
company, which began operations in
Sweden in May 2003. There are about
10,000 deaf or hearing-impaired people in
Sweden, and by September this year 4,000
of them had already purchased a 3 video
mobile phone. Extrapolate that for their
surrounding family, friends and other
points of contact, and the community can
be multiplied tenfold.
“The trend happened
almost by accident,” confirms
Elisabeth Lennhede, Head of
PR at Hi3G Access, which
operates the 3 brand in
Sweden. “It started in the
town of Örebro, about 200km
south of Stockholm, which has a big deaf
community with special schools and so
on. By coincidence the staff in our
3Store
knew sign language and were able to
explain to people how to make video calls.
Before long, the take-up rate among the
deaf community exploded in all
of Sweden.”
The local media also took
notice, with extensive coverage in
newspapers and on TV, and
subscriptions snowballed further.
“There is enormous emotional
impact and value,” Lennhede adds.
“Recently, a deaf mother described being
able to call her child for the first time. She
had tears in her eyes. It has made a huge
difference to them.”
Thus far, the favourite handset model
among the deaf community has been the
NEC 616
, due to its high-quality
video capability.
Realising the potential to not only
increase subscriber numbers, but also to
really change lives for the better, 3
Sweden, in collaboration with the SDR, is
looking at ways to improve and extend its
services. Already, its website has a
page that uses sign language to
inform deaf people about 3 (see:
. Other initiatives
are under consideration.
Meanwhile, a new project led
by the National Post and Telecom
Agency, in cooperation with SDR, is
looking at ways for the deaf
community to be able to call
emergency services.
The message is also spreading
fast in other countries where
3 operates.
In Denmark, where the deaf
community numbers around 5,000,
about half have already signed up
with 3, according to Mika Lassen,
Communications Manager of H3G
Denmark.
“A month or two after we launched, the
Danish Deaf Society made a TV
programme about how useful the new
service is to the deaf community,” she
recalls. “They said: ‘This is the best
technology that has been developed in
50 years.’ At last they could communicate
in their first language over long distances.
We realised that while people were having
great fun with video telephony, it could
also be very, very useful.”
3 Denmark has been work-
ing with the deaf community
to identify areas where services
can be enhanced. The compa-
ny also aims to find staff who
are fluent in sign language to
work in its
3Stores
.
In Austria, where 3 has been
in operation since May 2003, the compa-
ny has introduced the
3Visual
tariff pack-
age in cooperation with WITAF (Vienna
Deaf and Dumb Care Society) based on
the needs of deaf consumers with an
emphasis on video telephony. To help
improve services, 3 provided WITAF with
20 handsets to test, receiving practical
advice and input from deaf users.
One groundbreaking development to
emerge has been the introduction of an
interactive mobile sign dictionary that
contains about 1,700 signs. Called “Art
and Culture – Virtual Frame,” the project
was initiated by 3 together with the
Institute for Media Art and Science
Transfer. Signs were specially developed
and short videos produced that provide
the most important signs in a simple
form. The sign language dictionary can be
built interactively by continuously adding
words and signs while ready-made
videoclips can also be sent in a video
message format.
More innovations will surely follow.
It’s still early days, but everybody is
talking about it, and deaf communities
have already come to appreciate that 3 is
a company that really listens.
3G
S
PHERE
15
IS
GOOD
Deaf communities appreciate that
3 is a company that really listens
