BT has been fined £17.5m for a significant failure in its emergency call handling service, which resulted in thousands of 999 calls not being connected. The network fault occurred on June 25 last year and lasted for over 10 hours, causing 14,000 emergency calls to fail.

An investigation by Ofcom, the regulator overseeing the 999 phone system, found BT “ill-prepared” to handle the problem and criticized the telecom giant for falling “woefully short” of its responsibilities. BT admitted its shortcomings and expressed sincere apologies.

Suzanne Cater, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, emphasized the importance of reliable emergency services, stating, “Being able to contact the emergency services can mean the difference between life and death, so providers must be ready to respond quickly and effectively to any disruptions.”

A BT spokesperson acknowledged the issue, stating, “We take great pride in underpinning the national 999 service and recognize the critical importance our infrastructure plays.”

According to Ofcom, the outage was caused by a file error on a BT server that led to systems restarting when call handlers received calls, causing staff to be logged out and calls to be disconnected or dropped. A recovery attempt failed due to human error and poorly documented instructions.

The outage also affected text relay services for deaf and speech-impaired individuals, leaving them unable to make calls, including to friends, family, businesses, and services. Ofcom noted that this increased the risk of harm for these users.

The investigation revealed that BT’s preparedness for such situations was “inadequate.” Ofcom stated that BT lacked sufficient warning systems, proper procedures for assessing the severity and impact of incidents, and effective mitigating actions.

While no serious harm was reported by emergency services, Ofcom warned that the potential degree of harm was extremely significant.

BT accepted Ofcom’s findings and has implemented measures to prevent a recurrence of such events. A BT spokesperson stated, “While no technology is 100% resilient, we have built a highly robust network with multiple layers of protection to connect the public to blue light services in their time of need. We take our responsibility to the emergency services and the public seriously, and on this occasion, we fell short of our own high standards for the 999 service.”