Govt pushes emergency calling code

The Government wants to enforce legal sanctions against telephone companies who fail to provide 111 emergency call services during network outages.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce said today he was calling on telecommunications carriers to sign up to the Emergency Calling Code "as a matter of urgency".

The new code provides a legally binding document for companies who fall over on emergency calls.

It sets out minimum call standards networks must provide.

Fairfax revealed last week that only 83 out of 640 emergency 111 calls got through during an XT cellphone network outage last month.

The code was raised with Mr Joyce by officials in the hours after the February 22 outage of Telecom's XT network, it was revealed.

The Government cannot force companies to sign on to the code. However, Mr Joyce said it was "a good starting point''.

The voluntary code was preferable to regulation but the Government was prepared to act if necessary, Mr Joyce said.

He would also ask mobile companies to complete a formal arrangement to make sure networks could switch between one another for emergency calls when they went down.

Officials were actively engaged with the Analysys Mason independent review of recent outages of Telecom's XT mobile network and Telecom's internal investigation of the fault in the Papatoetoe exchange which affected 111 in the early hours of 26 February 2010.

"I will be reviewing closely the results of investigations into recent network outages to assess whether any further action is required to protect the integrity of the emergency calling system", Mr Joyce said.