Are the Smartphone plans for the disabled smart enough?

As the use of smartphones and various applications(App) become widespread, information gaps between disabled and non-disabled people have been reduced. The blind listen to News using the app that converts letters into voice, and hearing-impaired people make a call with the video call app. Although the smart world opens the way people with disabilities can overcome their difficulties, the plans for the disabled are not smart enough.

▣ The plans fail to reflect consumption characteristics of the disabled

The Korea Consumer Agency(www.kca.go.kr) conducted the survey on 101 people(the blind: 53 the deaf: 48) who have used mobile telecommunication service. As a result, only 32.7% of the respondents used the plans for the disabled, and 84.8% of them complained about the service.

"Insufficient amount of the data provided" topped the list of the complaints(53.6%). It appears that ten plans among thirteen different types of plans for disabled people, which the three major telecommunication companies(SKT, KT, LGU+) released, offer relatively small amount of data(100~750MB). In fact, 5GB or unlimited data per month are more demanding(64.4%). The survey shows that the current plans fail to reflect the consumption characteristics of people with disabilities.

▣ Discount service provided by different methods gives more benefits to the disabled

Discount service, such as contract discounts, is initially offered to disabled people, and then additional welfare discounts are applied to the discounted price. However, applying the welfare discounts preferentially allows the disabled to reap more benefits from the increased discounted price. The latter method is usually used to provide the people who receive the basic living subsidies with the welfare discounts.

Moreover, It revealed that the welfare discount rate(35%) for disabled people is less than any other discount rates. Especially, the Metropolitan rapid transit corporation(subway) gives 100% welfare discount, followed by the local call, the KTX, and the domestic flight(50%).

The KCA plans to make a proposal to relevant authorities and companies regarding varied plans for the disabled based on their consumption characteristics and different ways to offer welfare discounts.