House and minister will debate reaching 112 in border areas at the end of April

At the end of April, the House of Representatives and responsible minister Henk Kamp will debate a report that will then be published on the accessibility of the 112 emergency number in border areas. Many people say they have no range there to be able to call 112 in an emergency.

In the report, which will be published in April, the Ministry of Economic Affairs would provide solutions to the problem of limited availability of the emergency number in some areas, RTV Oost writes. It would concern 50,000 to 60,000 people who have no range in the vicinity of their home. It does not matter which provider you are a customer with when calling 112: providers forward every call to 112.

Vodafone said it already had a solution this week. By having the antennas manually adjusted in border areas for, among other things, power and angle of placement, the range should be improved. Vodafone is also deploying extra antennas in the form of small cells, small transmission towers with a range of up to 500 meters.

The reach of 112 in border areas became a political issue last year, when singer Marga Bult brought the issue to the attention after her mother was unable to reach the emergency number in a fire. Complaints followed from many more people from the border region.