Ofcom proposes to safeguard emergency SMS scheme  

 A voluntary trial enabling people to text the emergency services should be made mandatory, Ofcom proposed today. A voluntary trial enabling people to text the emergency services should be made mandatory, Ofcom proposed today. The proposal forms part of a wider consultation on changes to Ofcom's regulations that need to reflect new European law that comes into effect on 25 May 2011. Under the new European regulations, access to the emergency services for disabled people must be as close to that delivered to other consumers as the technology will allow.   While the emergency text scheme does have limitations, such as taking longer to converse by text than by phone, it offers greater equivalence than current alternatives. Emergency SMS trial The trial has been running in the UK for over a year and is predominantly used by deaf and speech-impaired people who find it difficult to use...