This article contains details about emergency calls made on 111.

How do emergency calls work?

All our voice services can make calls to Emergency Services by dialling 111. Emergency Services available in New Zealand for critical emergency situations are:

• the New Zealand Police
• the New Zealand Fire Service, and
• the Ambulance Service.

The network will treat a 111 call as the highest priority, disconnecting another call if necessary to allow it to go through.
N.B. You do not need any available minutes or credit on your SIM card to make an emergency call.

What is deemed an emergency?

An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment. This could include any of these situations:

• A fire or chemical spill
• someone is having breathing difficulties, is seriously ill or injured
• someone is in danger
• there's a serious risk to life or property
• a crime is being committed and the offenders are still there, or have just left
• you've come across a major public inconvenience, like trees blocking a state highway.

If you're not sure if it's an emergency, call 111 and ask.

Emergency Caller Location Information

When you dial 111 from a mobile phone on our network, data that helps determine the location of your handset is automatically sent to the Emergency Location Information System (ELIS) which is operated by Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC).

The ELIS provides this information about your handset's likely location to New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, St John and Wellington Free Ambulance to help them verify where you are calling from so they can respond to an emergency as quickly as possible.

For more information see: https://ngcc.govt.nz/location-information-services/

I am deaf - who do I fax in an emergency?

Please fax emergency services on 0800 16 16 10.

For more information about telephone services for people who are deaf, hearing impaired, deaf-blind, or have a speech disability please visit the New Zealand Relay site .

Information given to Emergency Services

If you call 111 from your mobile and do not manage to speak with an operator, we may be approached by the emergency services operators for assistance with contacting you. We will treat all calls to 111 from any of our customers as being genuine requests for help, and will assist emergency services with that in mind.

If approached by Emergency Services, we will provide your number (even if you have chosen to withhold it), and details of your location. This location information is based on either the address your fixed phone line is attached to, or the cell site that you are making a mobile phone call from.

If the Emergency Services request further information from us, then we will provide them with your subscriber information. This is:

• Your name;
• Your address;
• Your date of birth; and
• any alternative contact details that you may have provided us.

If you have a complaint about 111

If your complaint relates to a fault when calling 111, then please contact us immediately on 777 from your mobile, or 0800 800 021.
If your complaint relates to how the Emergency Services responded to your complaints, or about the person who received your call to 111, then you need to contact the relevant Emergency Service.

For more information about Emergency Services and 111

More information on the Emergency Services and 111 can be found at the New Zealand Police website.