The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has released a revised version of the specification ETSI TS 103 479 which defines next generation core services (NGCS). These services allow the use of multimedia communication such as voice, photos, video, and text to contact emergency centres.

Some of the changes presented in the revision include a technical basis for a national packet-switched infrastructure to give all citizens access to emergency services, and the requirement to support Total Conversation, which combines voice, video, and real-time text in one conversation, and Real-time text that can help people with hearing impairments. It also provides a mechanism to update location data during an active emergency communication, allowing the routing to the correct emergency control centre based on the location information.

Wolfgang Kampchler, the ETSI rapporteur of this specification, highlights: 'The recent publication is an essential foundation for European standardization of emergency communication. It addresses the technical challenges of multimedia conversations coming from different networks and is thus an important contribution to offer access to emergency services for all.'