The centers include the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Emergency Services Department, Hickam Air Force Base and Navy Regional Dispatch Center at Pearl Harbor.

"Mobi is the first cellular telephone carrier to come up on this new system, but it'll be followed by T-Mobile and Sprint/Nextel over the next few weeks," said Gordon Bruce, director of the city's information technology department. "We expect the remaining cellular providers will be up and running on (enhanced 911) by the end of March."

The enhanced 911 system can identify and digitally pinpoint an emergency caller's location within seconds. This allows dispatchers to identify where a wireless 911 call originated, even if the caller is incapable of giving a location. The system can locate calls to within 3 to 250 feet.

The state has raised more than $14 million in the past 2 1/2 years through a cell-phone tax to pay for the wireless 911 location technology. However, much of the money raised from a 66-cent per month subscriber fee remains unspent.