Hull telecoms firm fined £900k over 'serious weakness' in emergency-call service

KCOM, the Hull-based telecoms provider, has been handed a £900k fine after Ofcom uncovered “a serious weakness” in its emergency-call service.

Following an Ofcom investigation, it was determined that KCOM broke a rule designed to ensure everyone can contact the emergency services at all times.

KCOM, which operates the main telephone and broadband network in Hull, notified Ofcom that its emergency-call service for the Hull area had failed for around a four-hour period in December 2015.

KCOM attributed this failure to flooding at one of BT’s telephone exchanges in York, in the wake of Storm Eva on 28th December. As a result, 74 attempted calls to 999 or 112 from 34 different numbers failed to connect during this period.

Ofcom’s investigation 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.

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

To resolve the incident and address the weakness in its emergency-call routing, KCOM created an alternative route to carry emergency-call traffic that bypassed the flooded telephone exchange in York. It did so within two hours of identifying the problem.

Ofcom found that KCOM breached the requirement to ensure uninterrupted access to the emergency services, and has therefore imposed a penalty of £900k.

The fine, which must be paid to Ofcom within 20 working days, will be passed on to HM Treasury.

Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s enforcement and investigations director, said: “Ofcom rules mean that people must be able to call the emergency services around the clock.

“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.”