ALIA submission to the Australian Standard Telephone Service Group

November 1996

Summary

The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) wishes to ensure that the principle of equity in the access to information is upheld in the review of the Standard Telephone Service (STS). The submission recognises the contribution which the Universal Service Obligation (USO) has made to remote and isolated communities, and recommends that the concept of the STS become more explicitly outcome-focused rather than process-focused in order to uphold social justice principles in a climate of continued technological developments in telecommunications.

Attached is a submission from the Rural and Isolated Librarians Special Interest Group (RILSIG) of ALIA.

Introduction

The library and information sector has an essential role in providing universal public access to networked information to ensure that there is equity in access to information for the wider community. Demand for these services has predominantly been in the educational sector, though there has been a rapidly increasing demand for public libraries to provide similar services. This role for public libraries has been given bipartisan support at a Federal level. An example is the funding provided in this year's Federal Budget for online access in public libraries.

Libraries have also been using new technologies to aid users with special needs, such as providing graphical interfaces supported by audio facilities for use by the vision impaired, hearing impared and those with a low functional literacy in English. In order to maximise the effectiveness of these technologies, libraries and their end users require good connectivity to telecommunications networks so that the vast store of information available on the Internet and other computer mediated communications can be made accessible.

Libraries have a stake in the provision of a quality telecommunications service to all Australians. The access to information sources will continue to have increasing importance for social interaction and for the practice of business. In principle, all in Australia should have the same access to these types of services. In order to uphold this principle, the telecommunications baseline represented by the Standard Telephone Service will need to be raised from 'voice-only' carriage to encompass modern narrow-band telecommunications services such as facsimile, the Internet and touch dialling services. This is particularly important for remote and regional Australia, where library services can provide a vital link to information sources which may be physically distant from end users. To do this, it will be important to ensure that market and technology driven demands are balanced against social justice issues.

In part, these types of problems will be assisted through the continuing program of installing digitised telephone exchanges throughout Australia. However, remote and isolated communities are still waiting for telephone services which the majority of the population take for granted. This problem must not be bypassed or ignored due to the differences in economies of scale between metropolitan centres and isolated regions. The principles of the Universal Service Obligation must be maintained. Current gaps in the infrastructure should not be used as an excuse for the failure to provide services in the future. Furthermore, access must not be effectively blocked through prohibative pricing structures for telecommunications services. For example, the physical ability to 'dial-up' the Internet does not provide true equity in access if rural and remote users are required to pay time-charged STD rates for connectivity, while users in metropolitan areas are only required to pay for the flat-rate cost of a local call.

Improvements in the coverage of telecommunications services have a beneficial flow-on effect to all communities, though remote and isolated communities would stand to benefit most from a redefinition of the Standard Telephone Service to include the increasingly common non-voice uses of the existing telecommunications networks. Libraries, whether servicing remote or metropolitan areas, are able to use telecommunications networks to meet the information needs of their users. Users accessing this information are in turn be able to develop vital information-related skills. By providing universal access to these services, remote communities will have the ability to significantly reduce their current degree of isolation.

It has been noted by a number of government committees and inquiries, such as the Economics Reference Committee and the Broadband Services Expert Group, that it would be expedient to link public libraries to broadband digital links as soon as possible, and that telecommunications links to narrowband data networks should be implemented with some urgency. To this end, the Association would welcome the widening the definition of the Standard Telephone Service, so that it becomes outcome-focused rather than process-focused. In principle, individuals living in regional, rural and remote communities should be able to have access to the same minimum standards of service capability as those who live in metropolitan centres. This should be independent of the technology used for communication, so that service providers and telecommunications carriers are able to determine the most suitable technical and/or technological solutions.

The Association wishes to emphasise the important role which libraries play in the development of an effective Australian information infrastructure. The conception of a Standard Telephone Service provided via the Universal Service Obligation has generated vital infrastructure throughout Australia, providing most Australians with accessible lines of communication. It has fostered the development of innovative technologies in order to provide basic access to remote and isolated communities. However, safeguards should be in place to ensure that services to communities provided through libraries, which increasingly rely on the telecommunications network, are geographically and socially equitable, and that the principle of the Standard Telephone Service is broadened to include continued developments in telecommunications.