Network fault leads to BT fine

BT has been fined £17.5 million by Ofcom for its inadequate response to a major failure of its emergency call handling service in June last year.

The network fault disrupted BT’s ability to connect 999 and 112 calls in the UK, affecting nearly 14,000 call attempts from over 12,000 callers between 06:24 and 16:56 on 25 June 2023.

The issue, originating from a configuration error in a server file, caused call handling agents’ systems to restart, resulting in dropped calls and agents being logged out.

BT’s initial switch to its disaster recovery platform failed due to poorly documented instructions and team unfamiliarity, leading to a total system outage.

Ofcom’s investigation and findings

Following the incident, Ofcom launched an investigation on 28 June 2023 to determine if BT had failed to comply with its legal duties.

The findings revealed that BT lacked sufficient warning systems and proper procedures to assess and mitigate the impact of such incidents.

The disaster recovery platform also had insufficient capacity to handle the expected demand.

Ofcom’s Director of Enforcement, Suzanne Cater, stated: “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.”

Impact on deaf and speech-impaired users

The network fault also affected BT’s text relay services, preventing people with hearing and speech difficulties from making any calls, including those to emergency services.

This raised significant concerns about the increased risk of harm to deaf and speech-impaired users during the outage.

Despite no confirmed reports of serious harm from emergency authorities, Ofcom imposed the fine due to the potential severity of the incident.

Ofcom considered the seriousness, duration, and potential harm of the failure, as well as the steps BT has taken to remedy the issues, including fixing the error, improving fault monitoring and the disaster recovery platform, and documenting a clear process for switching to it.