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 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Emergency Location Information System. This system is an additional location verification tool and callers will still need to try their best to provide their address or accurate location.
This service is called the Emergency Caller Location Information Service. The service provides a way to collect information identifying the 2degrees cell site which a customer is using to make an emergency 111 call. 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 MBIE’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 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. ECLI is stored on our secure systems based in New Zealand. We will only use ECLI for the purpose of helping Authorised Emergency Services Providers identify the location of callers to 111. We may retain ECLI information together with a record of its delivery to MBIE’s ELIS for operational purposes for up to six months.
The Privacy Commissioner has authorised the Emergency Caller Location Information system via Schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code which was updated in 2020. You can access and correct ECLI that we hold about you, or if you have a complaint regarding ECLI, by contacting us in writing. If the ECLI held by us is inaccurate or incomplete you may ask us to correct the information.
2degrees is pleased to be working with MBIE to provide this important and potentially lifesaving service to our customers. You can find further information on this service on MBIE’s website: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-technology/it-communications-and-broadband/our-role-in-the-ict-sector/emergency-call-services/emergency-caller-location-information
