Performance report 2009–10
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Contents (Continued)
Introduction
Overview of the service
What is the National Relay Service?
Who delivers the NRS?
How does the NRS work?
Who can be contacted via the NRS?
What is the ACMA’s role in the management of the NRS contracts?
Who pays for the NRS?
What is the NRS plan?
Snapshot of the National Relay Service
Call minutes
Access to emergency services via the NRS
Number of NRS users
Inbound call types
Outbound call types
Relay service provider performance in 2009–10
Availability and operation of the NRS
Call charges and billing
Relay service provider performance standards
The NRS Customer Consultative Committee
Outreach service provider performance in 2009–10
Background
Approach to the delivery of the outreach service
Overview—Outreach service provider performance targets and indicators
acma | 1Introduction
This report has been prepared by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) in accordance with subsection 97(2) of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. This requires the ACMA to give a written report to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on the performance of the National Relay Service (NRS) providers against the requirements of the NRS Service Plan (NRS Plan) as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year.
Subsection 97(3) of the Act requires the minister to table the report in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of receipt.
This report has four parts:
an overview of the service, which describes what it is and how it is delivered
a statistical snapshot of the service
a review of the performance of the relay service provider against obligations and commitments in the NRS Plan
a review of the performance of the outreach service provider against obligations and commitments in the NRS Plan.
The ACMA is satisfied with the performance of both the relay service provider and the outreach service provider against their obligations in the 2009–10 NRS Plan.
The relay service provider fully met each of the three performance standards.
The outreach service provider:
fully met four of the eight performance targets
partially met the other four targets.
This is a comparable performance to the previous reporting period.
Overview of the service
What is the National Relay Service?
The NRS is a legislated consumer protection under Part 3 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. The NRS provides persons who are Deaf or who have a hearing and/or speech impairment with access to a standard telephone service on terms and in circumstances that are comparable to the access other Australians have to a standard telephone service.
The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and operates as a communication bridge for Deaf, hearing-impaired and speech-impaired people in the community.
Who delivers the NRS?
The NRS is delivered under contract to the Australian Government by two companies, Australian Communication Exchange Ltd (ACE) and WestWood Spice Pty Ltd (WWS). ACE is responsible for delivering the relay service component of the NRS, and WWS is responsible for delivering the outreach service component. These contracts commenced on 1 July 2006.
ACE is a not-for-profit company with a particular focus on the Deaf sector. Its head office and call centre are located in Brisbane.
WWS is a Sydney-based specialist consulting group with particular experience and expertise in working in the community and public sectors. With the Australian Federation of Deaf Societies and specialist social marketing consultants as subcontractors, WWS has established a national network of:
seven information and education officers across Australia who provide face-to-face information and training sessions
three customer service officers, who staff a national help desk for NRS users, assisting with information, troubleshooting and managing the NRS presence at conferences.
Training and information activities, research studies and marketing campaigns remain the key components of the outreach service.
How does the NRS work?
The NRS most commonly involves a relay officer converting text communication to voice, and voice communication to text, to enable text and voice users to have a telephone conversation.
Text users can contact the NRS via a telephone typewriter (TTY) or the internet. There are also options for users who can speak while being able to read the other party’s responses in text. A description of the various call types made through the NRS is provided below.
Who can be contacted via the NRS?
Calls via the NRS can be made to anyone anywhere, although suitable billing arrangements must be in place before calls can be made to overseas and premium rate numbers. Otherwise, calls within Australia can be made for the cost of contacting the NRS using its 13 or 1300 number, which is generally about the cost of a local call.
There are also 1800 NRS access numbers for NRS users wishing to contact freecall 1800 numbers.
The relay service provider is also named as an Emergency Call Person in the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Persons) Determination 1999 and operates a text emergency service on the number 106.
There are a number of call options available to suit different users of the relay service. These options are described from the perspective of someone who is Deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired and generally uses specialist equipment such as a TTY or internet connection. However, the relay service is also used by voice callers with a standard handset to contact someone who is Deaf, or has a hearing or speech impairment.
Type and Read
The Type and Read service (also known as ‘text to voice’) is for users who cannot hear and do not use their voice. The relay officer ‘becomes their voice’ and reads aloud what the user has typed (on a TTY or via internet connection) to the recipient of the call, then listens to what the recipient says in reply and types it back for the user to read. Type and Read is the most commonly used form of relay service.
Internet Relay
The Internet Relay service, introduced in 2007, is a form of Type and Read service. It allows people to make NRS calls from some internet-enabled mobile phones or a computer, using an internet browser or chat applications such as MSN or AOL Messenger. Since its introduction, Internet Relay has continuously grown in popularity and, at the end of 2009–10, accounted for more than 40 per cent of call minutes made through the NRS.
Speak and Read
The Speak and Read service (also known as ‘voice carryover’) is for users who cannot hear but prefer to use their voice to speak their side of the conversation instead of typing it. They can speak directly to the person they have called via the relay service. The relay officer listens to what the recipient of the call says in reply and types it back for the user to read.
Type and Listen
The Type and Listen service (also known as ‘hearing carryover’) is for users who have difficulty speaking or communicating but can hear. The user types their side of the conversation and the relay officer reads it aloud to the person they have called. The user can then listen directly to the other person’s reply.
Speak and Listen
The Speak and Listen service (also known as ‘speech-to-speech relay’) is for users who may have trouble having their speech understood over the telephone. The relay officer, who is experienced in listening to people with speech impairments, will re-speak all or part of the conversation as required. No specialist equipment is required to use this service.
What is the ACMA’s role in the management of the NRS contracts?
The ACMA has certain legislated responsibilities for the NRS, including collecting the NRS levy, monitoring the performance of the two providers and reporting to the minister annually on their performance. Further details of these functions are set out below.
The ACMA also has contract management responsibilities for both NRS contracts. Responsibilities include maintaining relationships with both contractors, monitoring and assuring contract compliance, providing necessary approvals under the contracts (including the approval of government branding on all NRS materials and the approval of the NRS Plans) and developing appropriate performance standards.
Who pays for the NRS?
The NRS is funded through a levy on eligible telecommunications carriers. Carriers holding a carrier licence and covered by the ACMA’s most recent annual eligible revenue assessment are liable to pay the levy each quarter. A ministerial determination registered on 1 December 2005 restricts payment of the levy to carriers that have annual gross telecommunications revenue of $10 million or more and are covered by the most recent eligible revenue assessment. The proportion of the levy costs payable by each eligible carrier is calculated based on its share of total eligible revenue in the relevant year.
The ACMA is responsible for the collection of the NRS levy on behalf of the Australian Government. The quarterly NRS levy is based on a forward estimate of providing the relay and outreach services in the current quarter, adjusted by the actual cost of providing the NRS in the relevant preceding quarter.
The total cost of providing the NRS in 2009–10 was $17.3 million (including GST)compared to $16.4 million in the previous financial year. This is an increase of five per cent.
The payment to WWS for outreach activities was within the annual capped budget of $3 million annually (including GST) for the outreach program. The relay service cost varies, as it is based on a set rate for every call minute delivered.
What is the NRS Plan?
Subsection 95(2) of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 requires each NRS provider to prepare a service plan which must include at least the following:
timetables for supply of the NRS
performance standards to be met by the NRS provider.
Before preparing the service plan, each NRS provider must consult with the ACMA regarding the content of the plan, including the nominated performance standards. Each plan must then be submitted to the ACMA for approval.
The NRS Plan is compiled annually by the ACMA from these service plans and is available on the NRS website at The NRS providers give the ACMA quarterly reports on their performance, which the ACMA uses to regularly review and discuss the delivery of the NRS with both providers. The ACMA also prepares this annual report on the NRS providers’ performance under the NRS Plan.
Snapshot of the National Relay Service
Call minutes
The term ‘call minutes’ in this report refers to the cumulative time duration of successful outbound calls made from the relay service. Call minutes are the basis of payment to the relay service provider, where a fixed amount is paid for each call minute relayed.
Table 1 Call minutes relayedFinancial year / Total call minutes / Percentage change
2004–05 / 3,641,559 / –3.7
2005–06 / 3,408,420 / –6.4
2006–07 / 3,162,046 / –7.2
2007–08 / 3,343,112 / 5.7
2008–09 / 3,243,722 / –3.1
2009–10 / 3,160,003 / –2.6
With the exception of 2007–08, call minutes have declined each year since 2003–04, with call minutes in 2009–10 being 16.4 per cent less than in 2003–04. Although consumer analysis has not been undertaken, factors underlying the ongoing decline in the use of the NRS are thought to be extraneous to the NRS performance and are likely to continue to affect the use of the service. For example, the popularity of mainstream text-based communication methods, such as email, instant messaging and SMS, within the communities that use the NRS, may have reduced the need to make as many NRS calls.
By the end of the 2009–10 financial year, around 40 per cent of outbound call minutes were generated by users who contacted the NRS via Internet Relay. This is a significant increase when compared to the 30 per cent of calls generated through Internet Relay at the end of the previous financial year. This is in part due to a reduction in total outbound call minutes of TTY calls, but does include a 28 per cent increase in total Internet Relay outbound call minutes in 2009–10 when compared to the 2008–09 total.
Access to emergency services via the NRS
As noted above, the relay service provider is also named as an Emergency Call Person in the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Persons) Determination 1999 and operates a text emergency service on the number 106. The 106 text emergency service is available for users with a TTY. There were 227 genuine calls to emergency service organisations (ESOs) via the 106 text emergency service in 2009–10. This compares to 333 and 310 genuine calls in 2008–09 and 2007–08 respectively.
The relay service provider advises the ACMA that there are a comparable number of genuine calls annually relayed to ESOs by the NRS via the Triple Zero emergency services access number. In these circumstances, TTY users are contacting the NRS via normal access numbers and requesting the call be relayed to Triple Zero, rather than dialling the 106 text emergency service number that is designated for emergency purposes. Calls to Triple Zero are also relayed for Internet Relay callers, as Internet Relay calls are unable to access the 106 service. There have been a comparable number of requests by TTY users for the Triple Zero number as there have by Internet Relay users in the last two years.
Number of NRS users
ACE estimates that each month nearly 9,000 Australians are using the NRS.[1] This figure includes those using the NRS to contact people who are Deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired.
Inbound call types
Inbound calls are those made by NRS users (either someone with a disability or someone wishing to contact someone with a disability) to the relay service. Relay officers then make an outbound call to the individual or business the NRS user wishes to contact. The majority of inbound calls are made by Deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired users who want to communicate with friends, family and the broader community.
The growth of Internet Relay as a proportion of overall inbound calls continued in 2009–10, with Internet Relay calls accounting for 28 per cent of all calls, compared to 22 per cent of all inbound calls during the 2008–09 year. This trend appears set to continue, with Internet Relay accounting for 30 per cent of all inbound calls in the month of June 2010.
Figure 1 Inbound call types by number of callsOutbound call types
Outbound calls are those placed by the relay service on behalf of users, usually to the wider community. Accordingly, voice calls (where the relay officer speaks the text received from the user via TTY or the internet) represent nearly nine in every 10 outbound calls made by the NRS. Voice outbound calls consist of call types that include:
Internet Relay
Speak and Listen
Type and Listen
Type and Read
TTY-based voice calls.
The predominance of voice calls in outbound calls from the NRS has not changed in recent years, reflecting the nature of the service as a communication bridge between the Deaf, hearing- or speech-impaired communities, and the wider public.
Figure 2 Outbound call types by number of callsAs per Figure 2, Internet Relay accounts for over 34 per cent of the number of outbound calls made in the 2009–10 year. This represents an increase on the 26 per cent reported in the 2008–09 year.
Relay serviceprovider performance in 2009–10
The ACMA is satisfied with the performance of the relay service provider against its obligations in the NRS Plan in 2009–10. The relay service provider fully met all three of its performance standards, which represents an improvement on the results of 2008–09.
Availability and operation of the NRS
The relay service provider is required to:
operate the NRS 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year
ensure privacy of the content of all calls and the identity of callers (except for calls through the text emergency call service, as required by law)
place no limits on the length or number of legitimate calls made through the NRS.
Call charges and billing
Calls to the national six-digit 13 and 10-digit 1300 NRS numbers incur a connection fee determined by the caller’s telephone service provider. This cost is around the cost of a local call and applies to any call made from a fixed service within Australia, except calls to premium rate service numbers (see below).[2] Calls to the text emergency service number 106 and to 1800 numbers are free. The 10-digit 1800 NRS number can only be used to place calls to 1800 services.