BT must pay the fine within two months of this decision, with the funds passed on to HM Treasury. The figure includes a 30 per cent reduction as a result of BT’s admission of liability and agreement to settle the case.
BT connects 999 and 112 calls in the UK and provides relay services for deaf and speech-impaired people.
On Sunday 25 June 2023, BT experienced a network fault that affected its ability to connect calls to emergency services between 06:24 and 16:56. During the incident, nearly 14,000 call attempts – from 12,392 different callers – were unsuccessful.
BT notified Ofcom of this issue, as required by law, and on 28 June 2023 Ofcom opened an investigation to establish whether the company had failed to comply with its legal duties to take appropriate and proportionate measures to prepare for potential disruption to its network.
Ofcom found that BT did not have sufficient warning systems in place for when this kind of incident occurs, nor did it have adequate procedures for promptly assessing the severity, impact and likely cause of any such incident or for identifying mitigating actions.
The regulator also found that BT’s disaster recovery platform had insufficient capacity and functionality to deal with a level of demand that might reasonably be expected.
Suzanne Cater, director of enforcement, Ofcom, said, “In considering the level of financial penalty, we took into account factors such as the seriousness, duration and degree of harm.
“We also considered steps BT has taken to remedy these issues, including fixing the error that caused the disruption; making improvements to fault monitoring; improving the disaster recovery platform; and documenting a clear process for switching to it.
“And we recognised that BT self-reported the incident, in line with its obligations, and provided regular updates. BT has also cooperated fully with our investigation and has provided Ofcom with information in a timely manner when requested.”
The regulator said that this fine should send a broader warning to all firms that, if they’re not properly prepared to deal with disruption to networks, Ofcom will hold them to strict account on behalf of consumers.