Subject: [Ecrit] [Fwd: [ng112] no more emergency calls from non-activated SIM card mobile phones]

From: Richard Barnes <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 07:27:26 -0400

Some news on the unauthenticated access problem (courtesy of Yacine 
Rebahi, via the ng112 list):

HEISE News on May 27, 2009:

No more emergency calls from mobile phones without activated SIM card
(in Germany, from July on)

Those who keep an old cell phone without a SIM card in the glove
compartment of their car or in a hiking backpack for making emergency
calls, should highlight 1st July red in the calendar. From this date on
the emergency number 112 works only with a loaded and activated SIM
card, said Rudolf Boll, speaker of the Federal Bundesnetzagentur
<http://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/>  in Bonn, in a conversation with DPA
(Deutsche Presse Agentur). The SIM-card allows identification of the
caller.

"The call centers are often bombed with faked emergency calls, "Boll
said with respect to the reasons of the change. We hope that the
inhibition threshold will be raised when callers know that they can be
identified. Previously, emergency calls could be made from any phone
even without a SIM card.

"There is still some way to clarify," said Boll. Technically should be
regulated, for example, cases when emergency calls are made via prepaid
SIM cards without deductible credit. Moreover, an emergency telephone
connection should also be possible in case when only foreign networks
without roaming agreement are available.

Despite the restriction, the regulation will try to ensure that as many
people as possible can make mobile emergency calls.  Therefore, from 1
January 2010 on, it should be possible to make mobile emergency calls
also by using SIM cards, for example, which have been turned off (e.g.
after an end of contract). Technically, those SIM cards also allow for
identification of the users.

Without a SIM card in the phone from  July 1, 2009, 112 calls will be no
longer routed to the PSAPs.

Link (in German):
http://www.heise.de/mobil/Handy-Notruf-ab-Juli-nur-noch-mit-aktivierter-
SIM-Karte-moeglich--/newsticker/meldung/139491