BT has been fined more than £17.5 million by Ofcom after a technical fault caused nearly 14,000 emergency calls to go unanswered last summer. The outage on 25 June 2023 disrupted the 999 service for almost 11 hours, leaving callers unable to reach emergency services.
Ofcom described the incident as a 'catastrophic failure' and found that BT lacked sufficient warning systems and adequate procedures to quickly assess the severity of such a software failure. The regulator also said the company's disaster recovery platform had insufficient capacity to handle the demand.
Ofcom's director of enforcement, Suzanne Cater, said: 'Being able to contact the emergency services can mean the difference between life and death. 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.'
BT apologised for the failure, stating that it takes 'great pride' in running the 999 service but fell 'short of our own high standards'. A spokesperson said the level of disruption was unprecedented and that the company had since contacted all affected callers.
Ofcom noted that while there were no confirmed reports of serious harm, the potential degree of harm was 'extremely significant'. The fine of £17.5m reflects the seriousness, duration, and potential harm of the outage.
