Ofcom has handed BT a £17.5m fine after finding the telco giant was”ill-prepared” to deal with a network fault that meant tens of thousands were unable to reach emergency services.
In June last year, a BT network fault meant it could not connect calls to emergency services between 06:24 and 16:56. Nearly 14,000 call attempts from 12,392 different callers failed during this period.
There were no confirmed reports by the emergency authorities of serious harm to members of the public as a result of the incident but Ofcom said it has fined BT £17.5m because “the potential degree of harm was extremely significant.”
The watchdog found that the UK’s largest telecoms company lacked the ability to deal with the level of demand “reasonably expected”.
Ofcom said: “We found that BT did not have sufficient warning systems in place for when this kind of incident occurs, nor did it have adequate procedures for promptly assessing the severity, impact and likely cause of any such incident or for identifying mitigating actions.”
BT connects 999 and 112 calls in the UK and provides services for deaf and speech-impaired people. The network outage meant people with hearing and speech difficulties were also unable to make any calls.
Suzanne Cater, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, said: “Being able to contact the emergency services can mean the difference between life and death, so in the event of any disruption to their networks, providers must be ready to respond quickly and effectively.
“In this case, BT fell woefully short of its responsibilities and was ill-prepared to deal with such a large-scale outage, putting its customers at unacceptable risk.
“Today’s fine sends a broader warning to all firms -– if you’re not properly prepared to deal with disruption to your networks, we’ll hold you to strict account on behalf of consumers,” she added.
BT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.