Growing acceptance: The 1823 Citizen's Easy Link of the Integrated Call Centre received its one-millionth call on December 24.

The 1823 Citizen's Easy Link servic of the Integrated Call Centre handled its one-millionth call on Christmas Eve, the Efficiency Unit says.

The percentage of calls handled by the service has grown rapidly since its inception, from 11% of the total calls received by the centre in 2003 to 23% in 2005.

As well as the Easy Link service, the centre also handles calls for 48 hotlines for 14 government departments and two ad hoc projects.

Each of the 48 hotlines is receiving on average of about 3,000 calls a month, while the Easy Link alone is handling about 50,000 calls per month.

The calls handled by the centre surged from the 20,000 calls per month in its early days to the monthly 200,000 calls at present. The centre received the five-millionth call on August 18 this year.

It also provided hotline services for the WTO Ministerial Conference recently held in Hong Kong.

More departments to join

The Companies Registry in December became the 14th government body to have its hotline handled by Easy Link and the Lands Department will join next year.