Etisalat reaches out to people with special needs

The forum, held under the patronage of Her Excellency Mariam Al Roumi, UAE Minister of Social Affairs, was held at the Etisalat Academy and sponsored by Etisalat.

During the forum Ahmed Abdulkarim Julfar, Chief Operating Officer of Etisalat, announced Etisalat's plan to launch new packages specifically for people with special needs and packages that can be used to enhance communication options at their social centers. These packages will include special prices on services useful for them, as well as bring them a range of benefits. The details of these packages will be unveiled soon.

Julfar said,

'Etisalat aims to offer the most relevant services to our customers from all sections of society. The purpose behind these activities is to ensure that those with special needs have unhindered access to education, training, and suitable communication services that will help them integrate seamlessly into society. Etisalat is the first operator to offer packages specifically designed for them.'

A Memorandum of Understanding was earlier signed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care - Special Needs & Minor Affairs, the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, and Etisalat to develop special telecom services for residents of the UAE with special needs. This was signed with the aim of bringing people with special needs specialized telecommunications products and packages that suit their unique needs.

Etisalat presently offers services suitable for people with hearing difficulties such as video conferencing, Fixed-line SMS services, BlackBerry services, MobileCAM, Push Email, 3G data and video calls. Etisalat also has solutions for visually impaired individuals such as Email Reader and Push to Talk.

Etisalat is also keen on improving on the ways that people with special needs can interact with Etisalat, and so has introduced Contact Centre Chat Sessions and the *122# mobile info service and will soon offer an Automated Directory Inquiry Service (ADIS).

Etisalat has continuously supported people with special needs and has demonstrated this by sponsoring events and activities such as Dubai Centre for Special Needs- Phone System, Holy Quran in Braille, People with special needs Centre, Wedding Ceremony for Special Needs People, Deaf Week, Rashid Pediatric Therapy Centre Fundraiser- Silver Jubilee Celebrations and special need TV programmes (Mashaael Al Amal).