Telecoms provider fined after 999 failure in flooding

PHONE AND broadband network operator KCOM has been fined £900,000 after flooding in the wake of Storm Eva led to the failure of 74 emergency calls.

Ofcom said an investigation uncovered a “serious weakness” in the telecoms company’s emergency call service after the telephone exchange flooded.

The regulator found that KCOM, which operates the main telephone and broadband network in Kingston upon Hull, broke an important rule designed to ensure that everyone can contact the emergency services at all times. KCOM notified Ofcom on December 28, 2015, that its emergency call service for the Hull area had failed for around four hours.

It said the failure was due to flooding at one of BT’s telephone exchanges in York in the wake of Storm Eva, resulting in 74 attempted calls to 999 or 112 from 34 different numbers failing to connect.

However, Ofcom found that all emergency calls from customers in the Hull area relied on the flooded telephone exchange in York, which was a single point of failure in KCOM’s emergency-call routing.

Under Ofcom rules, KCOM should have been able to automatically divert emergency calls via back-up routes.

The investigation found that although KCOM did have backup routes in place, these also relied on the flooded telephone exchange in York. KCOM created an alternative route to carry emergency calls that bypassed the flooded telephone exchange in York within two hours of identifying the problem.

Ofcom said it expected telephone companies’ services to be resilient enough “to the greatest extent possible” to connect emergency calls at all times, even in challenging circumstances. The £900,000 fine, which will go to HM Treasury, reflected the seriousness of this breach and its impact on public health and safety.

Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s enforcement and investigations director, said: ““Any failure to connect 999 calls is extremely serious.

“Today’s fine serves as a clear warning to the telecoms industry that it must prioritise access to the emergency services, no matter what the circumstances.”