August 29 (SeeNews) - Romania's European Funds ministry said it has signed a 47.6 million euro ($55.7 million) investment contract with the country' s Special Telecommunications Service (STS) to moderniяe the country's emergency number system, 112.
The project, to be implemented over 36 months, consists in the upgrading of hardware and software components for a more urgent response of emergency agencies, the ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.
Through the upgrade, call waiting time will be shortened by 5 seconds, to 54 seconds and automatic alerting of structures that can intervene in large-scale situations will be enabled.
Also, citizens will be able to make emergency call with video and send event images and videos.
"We are upgrading this system after 13 years of operation, during which over 64 million calls were received from citizens which found themselves in emergency situations," EU funds minister Rovana Plumb said.
In addition, the national emergency centers in Bucharest, Brasov and Cluj, as well as all local dispatchers and substations will be upgraded.
The national emergency system 112 was launched nationwide in 2005 with an investment of 40 million euro with Swedish telecom company Ericsson as the leading provider.
($=0.8547 euro)