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The UK telecoms and media regulator has today fined alternative rural broadband ISP Gigaclear £122,500 after they were found to have failed to “provide accurate and reliable caller location information to emergency services,” which could have made it more difficult for the police, fire and ambulances to find callers.
The alternative network provider, which has 150,000 customers, currently covers 600,000 premises across rural parts of England with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network (i.e. 25% take-up, with a goal of reaching 29% by the end of this financial year). In addition, they also offer customers a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based Home Phone service
Last year ISPreview noted that the small print on Gigaclear’s website stated that they “do not recommend you purchase home phone if you are reliant on your landline due to disability or accessibility requirements and do not have alternative means to contact emergency services in the event of a power outage” (here).
However, under Ofcom’s rules (General Conditions A3.5 and A3.6(a)), when someone calls 112 or 999 using a landline with a VoIP connection, the telecoms provider must – to the extent it is technically feasible – make accurate and reliable information about the caller’s location available to the emergency organisation handling the call, at the time it is answered.
Ofcom has now found that, between January 2022 and 11th March 2024, Gigaclear “provided either inaccurate caller location information, or no caller location information“, to emergency organisations for all emergency calls made by its VoIP customers. This affected a total of 948 calls to emergency organisations. This came after the provider self-reported the issue to Ofcom in April 2024.
Ofcom Statement
As a result, our investigation has found that Gigaclear has breached General Conditions A3.5 and A3.6(a). We consider this to be a serious breach of these conditions, which are set by Ofcom to ensure that emergency organisations are provided with accurate information about a caller’s location, wherever possible. This information is important because it helps assist the relevant emergency services in locating a person requiring emergency assistance.
Our investigation found that Gigaclear failed to test or monitor the availability of accurate caller location information to emergency organisations, prior to launching its VoIP service and while the service was live. Gigaclear also failed to ensure its third-party supplier configured the systems involved in the provision of caller location information to emergency organisations correctly.
Gigaclear missed an earlier opportunity to identify the issues by failing to appropriately investigate a customer complaint it received in 2023 concerning caller location information.
Gigaclear has since taken action to remedy the contravention and ensure accurate caller location information is now made available for calls to emergency organisations.
According to Ofcom, no members of the public reportedly experienced significant harm as a result of this serious breach, although the regulator has resolved to fine the company £122,500. Gigaclear 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 Gigaclear’s admission of liability and agreement to settle the case.
Gigaclear’s Statement
Gigaclear deeply regrets the historic configuration issue with our VoIP service, described in Ofcom’s decision published today.
By the time we self-reported the issue to Ofcom in April 2024 we had already identified and rectified the error. We have undertaken a full post incident review to implement the learnings from this incident and put in place processes to ensure that no similar issues arise again.
At all times before and after the issue was fixed, all emergency calls placed by our VoIP customers were successfully connected. We are not aware of any actual harm to customers as a result of the issue, but we acknowledge the seriousness of the error and the importance of ensuring accurate caller location information is available to emergency services.
Gigaclear is committed to providing high-quality service to its customers and maintaining full compliance with all regulatory obligations and we apologise for having fallen short of the high standard which we strive to maintain.
George Lusty, Ofcom’s Enforcement Director, said: “Providing the emergency services with accurate location data can mean the difference between life and death. So it’s vital that telecoms companies set up their systems correctly and test them thoroughly to make sure this happens. We won’t hesitate to hold companies to account, and Gigaclear fell short on a number of basic levels, putting its customers at unacceptable risk for a prolonged period of time.”