Deaf people will soon be able to communicate by telephone, using the Middle East's first text-to-voice service.
The service, a collaboration between the Ministry of Social Affairs, the telecoms regulator and phone companies, will provide live transcription and speech synthesis for people who are deaf or have speech problems.
The Dh8 million (US$2.2m) "echo of silence" project is part of a partnership between the ministry and the Telcommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), who signed an agreement yesterday.
Mohamed al Ghanim, director general of the TRA, said the service would be available by November. The phone companies Du and Etisalat are also part of the project, as is the satellite company Yahsat, whose services include data-to-voice applications.
"The idea is to install an interface and call centre that will act as an intermediary to allow the deaf community to communicate with the rest of society," Mr al Ghanim said.
He said the project would be funded by money raised from the telecoms sector, he said.
The announcement comes two months after members of the deaf community presented the ministry with a white paper containing recommendations for improving services to help them assert their right to equality in society. The project is the first of its kind in the Middle East and part of the ministry's aim of making more services accessible to all segments of society.
"The memorandum that was signed today with the TRA is very important because it will allow people with disabilities to have access to modern technology services that respond to their needs," said Mariam al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs.
"This means that we have managed a transition from providing basic rights to the disabled community, such as education health and work, towards new horizons in relation to modern technology."
lmorris@thenational.ae
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million