A user terminal for use with a communications system. The user terminal comprises a non-volatile memory and a subscriber identity authentication unit configured in use to communicate with a removable subscriber identity module and with said communications system in order to authenticate a subscriber identity stored in said subscriber identity module. A recording unit is provided for recording a used and authenticated subscriber identity in said non-volatile memory, while an emergency call initiation unit is configured to initiate an unauthenticated emergency call in the absence of a subscriber identity module, and to retrieve said used and authenticated subscriber identity from said non-volatile memory and to provide the retrieved subscriber identity to the communications system during the initiation.