Emergency Platform

Canadian Wireless Carriers Improve Access to 911 Services to the Deaf, Hearing, And Speech Impaired Community With TEXTBLUE

9 June 2020

The Canadian wireless carriers took the initiative under the auspices of the CRTC’s Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) to identify, procure, and build a 9-1-1 SMS text messaging solution to better meet the needs of the deaf, hearing, and speech impaired community in Canada.  AGENT511 and its partner, Impact Mobile, were awarded the project by competitive process.

300+

911 centers across Canada use TEXTBLUE.

Application

AGENT511’s Emergency Services Message Entity (ESME), TEXTBLUE, was deployed nationwide in Canada and offered 9-1-1 center access via browser or web services interface.  The platform delivers session oriented, multicarrier text messaging for 9-1-1 centers in Canada as part of the CRTC T911 initiative.   The platform automatically switches language between English and French based upon position.   The system offers registered wireless users the ability to engage in text messaging communication with a 9-1-1 call taker when they are unable to dial or speak in an emergency.

According to Janice Lyons, head of interpreting services for Canada’s Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, said in a release. “To be able to reach this lifeline through a cellphone is a major improvement over current technology we are using.”

The platform was piloted and deployed by the partners to nearly every 9-1-1 center across Canada in 2013 as part of a CRTC formal order.

Key Factors:

  • Delivered Nationwide in Canada across all wireless carriers and 9-1-1 centers
  • Customized messaging templates, transfer logic, and business rules
  • Multilingual message and browser

The platform serves the needs of more than 15% of North American adults who experience hearing loss.

Download our Wavelength Article on Text-with-911 Operations