UPD Ofcom – KCOM Failed to Maintain Emergency Services Access in Hull

The UK telecoms regulator has found “reasonable grounds for believing” that KCOM in East Yorkshire and Hull (England) “failed” to take sufficient measures to maintain uninterrupted telephone access to emergency services on 999 and 112 between 25th Feb 2009 to 28th Dec 2015.

The situation originally began in February 2016 after KCOM, to its merit, notified Ofcom that its phone service in the region had suffered a “temporary reduction in availability.” ISPreview.co.uk understands that this occurred as a result of damaged caused by Storm Eva at the end of January 2016.

Under the rules KCOM are required to take all necessary technical and organisational measures to manage any risks to the security of their public electronic communications networks, which among other things includes the need to provide “uninterrupted access to emergency organisations” (police, fire etc.).

Sadly KCOM’s network was impacted, albeit only for a short time, while they re-routed some call traffic. However Ofcom’s latest update suggests that KCOM may have suffered related problems over a much wider period (we suspect they mean brief occurrences within the wider period).

Ofcom’s Statement

Following an investigation, Ofcom has determined that there are reasonable grounds for believing that KCOM contravened General Condition 3.1(c) from 25 February 2009 to 28 December 2015. Ofcom has therefore issued a Notification to KCOM under section 96A of the Communications Act 2003.

Specifically, Ofcom has reasonable grounds for believing that KCOM failed to take sufficient measures to maintain uninterrupted telephone access to emergency services on 999 and 112 in breach of GC3.1(c). Given the findings in relation to GC3.1(c), Ofcom did not go on to consider whether KCOM has contravened section 105A of the Act.

KCOM now has an opportunity to make representations to Ofcom on the matters contained in the Notification before Ofcom makes a final decision in accordance with section 96C of the Communications Act 2003.

At this stage we don’t yet have the full details of Ofcom’s investigation, although at the very least we’d expect them to be reviewing KCOM’s procedures and this may be followed in the future by some recommendations for improvements. A financial penalty is also possible.

UPDATE 3:06pm

A spokesperson for KCOM told ISPreview.co.uk, “This is a draft decision by Ofcom, which we will be reviewing carefully over the coming weeks. We take our regulatory obligations seriously and will be working closely with Ofcom to ensure any concerns are addressed and that the final decision accurately reflects the situation.”