If it's an emergency, dial 111
When you dial 111, an operator will answer and ask if you need emergency Police, Fire, or Ambulance assistance. Once you specify your situation, they'll direct your call to the appropriate service.
An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment.
The network will treat a 111 call as the highest priority, and will even disconnect another call if needed to allow it to go through.
We automatically provide your phone's location data to the emergency services to help responders find you. Remember, the ECLI (Emergency Caller Location Information) system serves as an extra location verification tool. If you dial 111, make sure to do your best to give your address or accurate location.
If you have a condition that affects your ability to hear or speak on the phone, it's a good idea to join the 111 TXT service ASAP. This service means you can communicate with Fire, Ambulance, or Police if there’s an emergency.
As long as there is mobile receiption where you are, you can always call 111.
Jump to section: Non Emergency Situations | Illegitimate 111 calls | Location info provided to emergency services | Faults with emergency calls |
Reporting non emergency situations to the Police
To report Police non-emergencies (like a car accident without any injuries) that don't need an immediate Police response, dial 105 from your mobile. If you're not sure if it's an emergency, dial 111.
More info on the 105 service, plus details on how to make a police report online, are available on the 105 website.
Non-genuine 111 calls
Do not make any non-genuine 111 calls from your mobile. If a call to 111 isn't genuine, emergency services like Police, Ambulance, or Fire won't be contacted. We leverage the 2Degrees network which has mechanisms in place to prevent such calls.
When you call 111, we provide emergency services with your phone's location data.
When you call 111 from a Kiwi mobile, essential data that assists emergency services in pinpointing your location is automatically transmitted to the Emergency Location Information System. This system then supplies the geographic information to the authorized emergency service and is called ECLI.
The Emergency Location Information System (ELIS) is operated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
Just a heads up, the system is an extra way to verify your location. So, if you dial 111, do your best to give your address or accurate location.
Authorised Emergency Service Providers (New Zealand Police, New Zealand Fire Service, St John and Wellington Free Ambulance) 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.
Our full terms for emergency location services can be found at https://www.electrickiwi.co.nz/legal/mobile/emergency-location-service-policy.
Faults with emergency calls
The New Zealand telecommunications industry is committed to ensuring that 111 calling is of sufficient quality and clarity. If there is any fault with the connection of your emergency call from your mobile, once you are safe and sound please send us details of the problem so that we can investigate. Anything else regarding your emergency call should be directed to the appropriate emergency services.