Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Three major areas to promote services suitable for the elderly

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News on April 20: At the end of last year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties Faced by the Elderly in Using Intelligent Technology", which further promoted the solution of the difficulties faced by the elderly in using intelligent technology, insisted on the parallel development of traditional service methods and intelligent service innovation, and provided the elderly with more comprehensive, more intimate and more direct convenient services.

At the press conference on the development of industry and information technology in the first quarter held by the State Council Information Office today, Zhao Zhiguo, spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Information and Communications Administration, said that in response to the "digital divide" problem currently faced by the elderly, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology resolutely implemented the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, insisted on the parallel development of traditional service methods and intelligent service innovation, and quickly organized the entire industry to take positive action, starting from the three major areas closely related to the lives of the elderly, to provide the elderly with perceptible, warm and more convenient services, and achieved positive results.

First, in terms of telecommunications services, the three operators have implemented two services. The first is "Seats for the Elderly", where the elderly do not need to wait in line when entering the offline business halls of the three operators. They will be guided by dedicated personnel and provided with "face-to-face" services. The second is "One-click Inbound Call", where the elderly do not need to go through voice prompts, number selection and other links when calling the operator's customer service phone number, and will be directly provided with consulting services by humans.

Second, in terms of Internet services, since January this year, a one-year special campaign for Internet application adaptation and barrier-free transformation has been organized nationwide. Internet companies have responded positively and accelerated the transformation work for the elderly, and some initial results have been achieved. In light of the recent progress of the special campaign, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has re-deployed the special campaign and made clear requirements for the transformation specifications, evaluation standards, and logo granting of websites and mobile apps.

Third, in terms of smart products and services such as mobile terminals, we have organized mainstream mobile phones in the market to basically realize the "elder mode" function. Through large icons, large fonts, loud volume, one-touch calling, etc., we help the elderly to easily obtain various information.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has selected more than 200 high-quality smart health care products and services to facilitate the purchase and use of the elderly. Zhao Zhiguo said frankly: "Although the above work has achieved certain results, we should also see that the number of people over 60 years old in my country has reached 254 million. Providing thoughtful and considerate smart products and services for the elderly will be a long-term task and a long way to go."

In the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to focus on the characteristics and needs of the elderly group and accelerate the implementation of various measures. First, we will implement the special action and guide the first batch of 158 websites and mobile apps to complete the transformation and evaluation on schedule. Second, we will strengthen supervision and guidance in various places, find outstanding problems and weak links in a timely manner, and promote the establishment of a long-term mechanism for the difficulties of the elderly in using smart technology, that is, to solve the difficulties faced by the elderly in using smart technology and build a long-term solution mechanism. Third, we will evaluate the effectiveness of measures in a timely manner, summarize replicable and popularizable experiences and practices, form a number of landmark achievements, actively promote and popularize them, and actively respond to social concerns.