1.7 million emergency calls in first half of 2014
The Local - [email protected] •
3 Sep, 2014
Updated Wed 3 Sep 2014 14:43 CEST
According to a report in Computerwelt, the Austrian Mobile Communications Forum announced that between January and June of 2014, there was a total of 1,746,785 emergency calls made via the mobile cell network, meaning around 9,704 calls per day.
In addition to the most important emergency numbers, several additional three-digit call services -- such as 142 for telephone counseling -- increased the semi-annual total to 2,688,760 calls. This represents two calls per year for every three of the 8.5 million inhabitants of Austria.
Rüdiger Köster, President of the Mobile Communications Forum of Austria said "Modern mobile networks are not only vital for the business, but also help to save lives in case of acute heart failure or accidents with serious injuries -- namely one each second. Since mobile phones are widely available, rescue response times have decreased dramatically."
Emergency calls via mobile are always prioritized. This can mean that when a cellular station is under heavy load, it will drop regular calls to allow emergency calls to go through, or limit bandwidth for data transmission.
The most important emergency numbers from mobile phone networks in the first half of 2014 included:
112: 508,824 European emergency switchboard
133: 376,335 Police emergency calls
144: 393,392 Emergency rescue/Red Cross Ambulance
122: 106,965 Firefighters
Other important numbers to remember include mountain rescue (140) for hikers in difficulties, suicide prevention and counseling (142) and teenager advice helpline (147.)
There are also separate numbers for women - including immigrants - in domestic abuse situations on 0800 / 222 555, and a poison helpline on 01 / 406 43 43 for Vienna.
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