BT has been fined £17.5 million after a massive failure in its emergency call handling system, causing thousands of 999 calls to be disconnected.
The issue occurred on June 25 last year, caused by a network fault lasting over 10 hours.
It has resulted in 14,000 calls to emergency services being disconnected.
Ofcom’s investigation revealed BT was unprepared to handle the crisis and fell far short of its responsibilities.
The outage was triggered by a server file error at BT, which caused systems to restart whenever a call was received.
This led to call handlers being logged out, resulting in dropped calls and failures in connecting emergency services.
Efforts to resolve the issue were hampered by poorly documented recovery procedures and staff unfamiliarity with the process.
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.”
A BT spokesperson said: “We take great pride in underpinning the national 999 service and recognise the critical importance our infrastructure plays.”
“We take our responsibility to the emergency services and the public seriously, and on this occasion, we fell short of our own high standards for the 999 service”
Ofcom found no confirmed reports of “serious harm” resulting from the disruption but acknowledged that the potential for significant harm was high.
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The failure also impacted BT’s text relay services for deaf and speech-impaired users, who could not make calls, putting them at increased risk.
Ofcom’s investigation highlighted that BT’s preparedness for such incidents was insufficient, with inadequate warning systems, assessment procedures, and mitigation actions in place.
BT has admitted its shortcomings and expressed sincere regret over the incident.
A BT spokesperson said: “While no technology is 100% resilient, we have built a highly robust network with multiple layers of protection to connect the public to blue light services in their time of need.
“We take our responsibility to the emergency services and the public seriously, and on this occasion, we fell short of our own high standards for the 999 service.”
