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Telecom's decision to block some cell phone emergency calls has been exposed as a police order - something which police deny.
The telecommunications company will not connect 111 calls from its rivals' phones.
If a Telecom customer dials 111 on an XT mobile, even if there is no reception on their network, other networks with reception will patch the call through.
However, a police order prevents Telecom patching through the emergency calls, even though approximately 2.7 million New Zealanders are on Vodafone or 2 Degrees.
Telecommunications expert Chris O'Connell says one has to wonder about the decision in holding back a very "sensible measure".
Police have allegedly asked Telecom to turn off its ability to accept what are called "roaming SOS calls" because it has not yet added software that will block calls from mobiles without SIM cards inserted.
Communications Minister Steven Joyce says it prevents young children getting an old phone and dialling all the numbers - something which creates a lot of issues in terms of bogus 111 calls.
However, O'Connell thinks that is trivial.
"Kids make nuisance phone calls with ordinary landline phones and every other kind of phone."
Police said in a statement that they did not tell Telecom to switch the software off.
"It was an option put to police by Telecom which police agreed to in the interim."
However, Joyce seems to think that the police issued an order to the telco to turn off the software in order to prevent the dialling off SIM-less phones.
Joyce says he agrees with the police decision after last year almost half the 111 calls to police were fake.
"Police operationally have got to make an assessment as to where the bogus calls come from. That's the call they've made and I understand that call."
Telecom has not been given a deadline for when the software will be installed.
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