People with disabilities (PWD) and people with low incomes pay high prices for information and communication technology in Montenegro, which prevents their availability to that population.
That was the reason for organizations representing PWDs to send a letter to the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services, with a request to consider the issue of lowering the prices of these technologies.
"The initiative is the result of an analysis of the state of accessibility of IC technologies to persons with disabilities and persons in a state of social need, which showed that the prices at which Telenor offers services to this category of persons in Montenegro are such that they are prevented from accessing IC technologies, which is in contradiction with the recommendations of the European Union", warned the acting director of the Association of Paraplegics, Filipa Rajković.
She noted that the Law on Electronic Communications stipulates that the Agency monitors the development and price level of services from the scope of universal service and that, if it determines that the prices are too high compared to the average monthly earnings, it has the right to demand from the service provider, in this case Telenor , to offer special tariffs or special packages for users with low incomes or persons with disabilities.
"The existing legal solution does not achieve the goal of universal service, which is to prevent social exclusion by ensuring that citizens from rural and remote areas or households with low incomes have access to basic and essential services at affordable prices," she said. is Rajković.
The connection fee charged by the Universal Service operator in Montenegro to users with low incomes and users with disabilities is set at a maximum of 25 euros, while persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are exempted from paying the fee on the same basis
"For the sake of comparison, the connection fee charged by the Universal Service operator in Montenegro to users with low incomes and users with disabilities is set at a maximum of 25 euros, while persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are exempted from paying the fee on the same basis. In addition, a person with a disability and a person in a state of social need in Montenegro is obliged to allocate four euros per month for the subscription, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the same category of population is obliged to allocate twice as much money on the same basis, i.e. 2,1 euros, and this amount also includes 100 minutes of conversation in heavy traffic", said Rajković.
She said that organizations of persons with disabilities consider it justified and necessary to submit an initiative to the Agency for Electronic Telecommunications and Postal Services, all in order to create conditions for the accessibility of IC technologies to the socially vulnerable category of the population and persons with disabilities in accordance with the standards of neighboring countries.
In addition to the Association of Paraplegics, the letter was also signed by the Association of the Blind of Montenegro, the Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Montenegro, the Association of Civil War Invalids of Montenegro, the Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities "Our Initiative" and the Association of Multiple Sclerosis Patients of Montenegro.
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