ACE retains national relay service

Stuart Corner
Monday, 24 April 2006 19:13

Your IT - Home IT

See also: New promoter for National Relay Service

Australian Communication Exchange will continue to provide telecommunication relay services to help people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment after signing a new contract with the Federal Government.

Announcing the new contract, communications minister, senator Helen Coonan, said that ACE would provide "enhanced services including...an Internet relay service and much stricter service level standards."

ACE, an Australian not-for-profit company employing around 200 staff with call centres in Melbourne and Brisbane, has provided the relay service since its inception in 1995. Under the new contract, ACE will, over the next year, progressively introduce the Internet relay service and improvements to its IT platform and systems to enable it to comply with the enhanced performance standards to apply across all its services.

The Government has also recently announced a new National Relay Service Outreach provider, WestWood Spice, who will provide awareness raising and training for users of the National Relay Service. Previously ACE also held the contract to provide outreach services.