Ofcom has today fined communications provider Vonage £700,000 for failing to ensure certain business customers could make calls to the emergency services.
Our rules require providers to take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations as part of any call services offered.[1]
Being able to contact the emergency services is vital and Ofcom takes any breach of this nature very seriously.
Vonage notified Ofcom of an issue affecting its business customers’ ability to make emergency service calls between 23 October 2023 and 3 November 2023.
What our investigation found
During this period, Vonage’s UK VoIP business customers were unable to connect to the emergency services when using desk phones.
We found that Vonage’s internal processes did not include adequate assessment of whether a software update, which caused the issue, had the potential to impact emergency calls. As a result, Vonage failed to carry out testing following the update, which led to its emergency call service failing.
Vonage also failed to have adequate monitoring procedures in place, which meant it did not have sufficient oversight of its network to enable it to identify an outage affecting emergency calls.
Financial penalty
We take compliance with these requirements extremely seriously. We have concluded that Vonage has breached our rules, and we have fined the company £700,000.[2]
Vonage has made a number of changes to its processes to prevent future errors.
George Lusty, Ofcom’s Enforcement Director, said: “Being able to call the emergency services can mean the difference between life and death. It’s vital that telecoms providers take their responsibilities seriously and if they don’t, we’ll hold them to account. Vonage fell short on a number of levels, putting its customers at unacceptable risk.”
We will publish the full findings from our investigation shortly.
Notes to editors:
- General Condition A3.2(b)
- Vonage must pay the fine within four weeks of this decision, and it will then be passed on to HM Treasury. It includes a 30% reduction as a result of Vonage’s admission of liability and agreement to settle the case.