With the 2026 FIFA World Cup expected to bring a surge of international visitors to the U.S., NENA has released updated guidance to help 911 centers handle emergency calls from foreign wireless phones.
The update focuses on a key call-handling issue for public safety answering points: International wireless calls may not display a callback number in the same way domestic wireless calls do, creating challenges for telecommunicators if a call is disconnected.
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NENA said it worked with CTIA and the nation’s major wireless carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — on an interim fix that will allow telecommunicators to receive the full international callback number when a 911 call is placed from an international device.
For callers from countries outside the North American Numbering Plan, calls may be delivered to 911 as non-service-initialized calls. In those cases, the caller’s phone number does not appear in ANI as it does for domestic calls or calls from NANP-conformant countries.
Under the carrier change, the full E.164 international callback number will appear in the Customer Name, or NAM, field in ALI. The number will display as “CBN” followed by the caller’s callback number, including the country code.
NENA said AT&T and Verizon began deploying the change the week of May 11, while T-Mobile is expected to begin deployment within the next few weeks. Broad availability is expected by June.
The organization emphasized that telecommunicators should not rely on ANI for the callback number on international 911 calls. Instead, they should check the NAM field in ALI.
The fix is considered an interim improvement until PSAPs deploy Phase 2 NG911. NENA noted the solution will only work when valid roaming agreements exist between the caller’s carrier and the U.S. wireless carrier.
NENA also clarified that text-to-911 is not reliable for international devices, stating that voice should be treated as the only dependable way for international callers to reach 911. The organization said public messaging should clearly advise visitors: “Do not text 911 from an international phone.”
The updated guidance also recommends that international visitors connect to a U.S. wireless network when they arrive, even if they later turn off roaming. NENA said doing so may reduce call setup delays, limit initial call failures and improve the likelihood of successful emergency call routing.
The full guidance can be found here.
