BT IRELAND has secured a five-year contract worth up to €55 million to provide the State’s 999/112 emergency call-answering service.

It will take over from current emergency call-operator Eircom in December.

BT Ireland secured the contract in a tendering process that included the former State company and directory inquiry provider 11890.Ltd.

It will subcontract out the customer service element of the contract to Conduit, the company that operates the 11850 directory inquiry service, and 100 new jobs are to be created to provide the service. Hiring will start in July.

BT Ireland is required to handle calls in English and Irish, but said it would employ a certain number of multilingual staff to deal with calls in other languages.

It operates similar services in the UK and Northern Ireland.

BT Ireland said it would invest €10 million in the service and provide technology that automatically displays a caller’s address.

The company said someone unable to accurately state their location would have their mobile phone located automatically using GPS technology.

The contract is effectively paid for by telephone service providers who are obliged to pay a fee per emergency call. This fee will rise to €2.23 this year.

The service is monitored by communications regulator ComReg, which reviews the fee annually.

Based on an average of 5 million emergency calls per annum, the service is expected to generate revenues of over €11 million a year for BT Ireland.

The service will be based at three locations, Eastpoint in Dublin, Navan, Co Meath, and Ballyshannon, Co Donegal.

BT Ireland chief executive Chris Clark said: “We are very proud to have been selected by the Government to bring our expertise to bear in Ireland and provide such a critically-important service.”