Farmers back emergency call shake up

Federated Farmers is urging every mobile network company to sign up to the Emergency Calling Code to ensure 111 calls always get through.

“We’re welcoming the latest moves by Government to ensure the emergency call system never fails again,” says David Rose, Federated Farmers adverse events spokesman.

“It’s now vital that every mobile company joins the voluntary system which provides for roaming between networks for 111 calls.

“Farmers suffer the tyranny of distance. Even when emergency calls get straight through it can still take a long time before help arrives so any network problems just make matters worse.

“The recent outages on the XT network show how vulnerable our mobile system can be and if the 111 system isn’t operating farmers can be in real trouble. If someone’s having a heart attack or their house or wool shed is on fire they need to get straight through to the emergency service. It’s not as if they can yell out to their neighbour for help.

“This is not just about farmers and their needs. It’s about ensuring that we have compatibility across all forms of communication so that every New Zealander in trouble knows that when they dial 111, something will happen, no matter where they are or what piece of technology they’re using.

“We also need action on dead spots. Anyone who’s on the road a lot knows there are many areas which still don’t have mobile coverage.

“Even farmers living close to urban areas hit dead spots or find their call suddenly disappears and in this day and age that’s not good enough,” concluded Mr Rose.