Govt plans tender for 111 app
Smartphone app will allow emergency services to better locate a caller.
Hot Topic
Long reads
The government will shortly issue a request for proposals (RFP) for a smartphone app that can handle 111 calls.
Mobile phone calls to 111 will be quicker and safer in future with the development of a new app, Communications Minister Amy Adams says.
The app, to be developed by mid-2016, will automatically provide caller location information to emergency services.
Each year, there are more than 1.3 million genuine calls to 111 emergency services. In 2014, 73% of all calls to 111 were made from a mobile phone.
“Emergency services sometimes have difficulty pinpointing the caller’s exact location. People can’t always give an accurate address in an emergency – they may not know exactly where they are or are somehow prevented from providing details,” Ms Adams says.
The ability for emergency services to receive more accurate locations of callers was recommended by Coroner Ian Smith in response to the death of Jason Roach, who died in December 2010 after calling police, who could not locate him.
“Mobile callers who download the app and use it to dial 111 can also connect directly to the emergency service they require, rather than going through an initial transfer process to fire, police or ambulance,” Ms Adams says.
The new app will also have the ability to distribute information to the public, based on their geographical location, such as in the wake of natural disasters. This public alert information will be available to those who choose it on an opt-in basis.
The new app will be free for users to download. The overall cost of the new emergency response system will be met through the Telecommunications Development Levy, a tax on telecommunications service providers that raises $50 million a year (most of which goes to the public-private Rural Broadband Initiative).
The project to develop the new system will be jointly led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Police, and procurement is expected to get underway by the end of the month.
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Govt plans tender for 111 app
48730