Technology

BT Ireland scoops lucrative emergency call answering contract

Telco will operate all calls to EU Emergency Phone Number 112 or 999

Fri Feb 23 2018 - 17:33

BT Ireland has been awarded the contract to operate the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS) for a period of seven years.

The service answers all calls to the EU Emergency Phone Number 112 or 999 and forwards calls to the relevant emergency service.

It has answered over 16 million calls since it was launched in July 2010 and answered a total of 1.8 million calls in 2017. The contract is worth between €30-€50 million to the telco.

Making the announcement, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten said: "The service has to be robust and effective given the safety of life aspects associated with the provision of the service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

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“There have been a number of enhancements to the service in recent years including the introduction of an emergency SMS service, the incorporation of Eircodes and the launch last October of advanced mobile location, a standard developed in cooperation with BT,” he said.

Shay Walsh, managing director of BT Ireland, said: "As part of this new contract, we will be making a multi-million euro technology investment to further modernise this service and ensure we consistently achieve the high quality performance levels expected."

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