Mobile Caller Emergency Location Service
When our customers (and overseas visitors roaming on our network) make an emergency 111 call from their mobile phone, data that could help determine the location of their phone may be sent to the Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC) Emergency Caller Location Information System (ELIS). This system is an additional location verification tool and callers will still need to try their best to provide their address or accurate location.
The service provides a way to collect information identifying the 2degrees cell site which a customer is using to make an emergency 111 call and their location. All 111 calls originating on our mobile network automatically generate information identifying the relevant 2degrees cell site.
Location information is sent from our network to NGCC's ELIS which then provides information about your phone’s likely location to authorised Emergency Service Providers (New Zealand Police, New Zealand Fire Service, St John New Zealand Service and Recue, Maritime New Zealand, and Wellington Free Ambulance). Authorised Emergency Service Providers are allowed to use this location information to help them verify where you are calling from, to assist them to respond to the emergency.
Location information can either be "handset-derived", e.g. based on the Advanced Mobile Location standard from smartphones running Google's Android operating system or Apple's iOS, or "network-derived", e.g. using GPS or cell tower information.
Emergency Caller Location Information (ECLI) is personal information indicating the approximate geographical position of a mobile phone derived from this service. Schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code also permits emergency service providers, in limited circumstances, to automatically collect similar mobile phone location information from 2degrees. This is for the purposes of preventing or lessening a serious threat to the life or health of a customer when the customer’s phone has not called 111 (DLI).
ECLI and DLI (ELI) is stored on our secure systems based in New Zealand. We will only use ELI for the purpose of helping authorised Emergency Services Providers identify the location of callers to 111 (or potential location in the case of DLI). We may retain ELI information together with a record of its delivery to NGCC’s ELIS for operational purposes for up to six months.
The Privacy Commissioner has authorised the Emergency Location Information system via Schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code which was updated in 2020. You can access and correct ELI that we hold about you, or if you have a complaint regarding ELI, by contacting us in writing. If the ELI held by us is inaccurate or incomplete you may ask us to correct the information.
2degrees is pleased to be working with NGCC to provide this important and potentially lifesaving service to our customers. You can find further information on this service on NGCC’s website: https://ngcc.govt.nz/location-information-services/
