Ofcom Fine UK Broadband ISP Gigaclear £122k Over Calling Info Failure
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).
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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.”
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I am on Squirrel Internet, they have a fantastic service. But thanks to the ridiculous Government and Open Reach my only provider for fibre is Gigaclear hence why I am on Squirrel, and sadly their network is, well, unreliable. Not the speeds as they are very good, but I have had about 5 or more outages in a year and a half? They do fix them pretty quickly but still, IMO not reliable. Then again we also get regular power cuts too where I live.. sure it has nothing to do with the endless new homes being built everywhere around me….
A fair amount of the UK has no FTTP at all. Taxpayers who funded your build still waiting.
Actually according the latest figures the majority of tax payers DO have fibre internet access, so your point is invalid I’m afraid. Also the government didn’t funded Gigaclear to build, they did it themselves.
My partner is using Gigaclear, and she lives in the sticks, and it has been very reliable. Customer service could be a bit better, when she wanted to reduce speed, but got it sorted in the end.
But the network is A1.
I think a lot of peoples problems with any network or ISP is the Wifi, not the provider.
@Ad47uk sadly no not for me, I have suffered from multiple Gigaclear outages. They need to try a lot better with it.
I suspect many altnets would probably prefer not have any kind of VOIP service. I’m surprised many of them feel the need to do them given that BT’s own Plusnet doesn’t do any kind of VOIP service.
Supply and Demand, I guess. PlusNet don’t offer it for the same reason (legacy) EE doesn’t – they want to shovel people onto the BT systems.
It’s only a handful of altnets which offer VoIP as most (rightly) focus on broadband. It’s the big boys who will be the biggest residential VoIP providers (like BT, Virgin Media, Sky, Talktalk, Vodafone).
We’ve had a few outages this year and was all ready to complain to try and drive down my contract renewal but when I looked we had 4 outages over than last 18 months. 1 lightening strike requiring router replacement, a couple of outages due to National Grid works, and a hardware failure at the box at the end of the road. Some of them were over 24 hours it was like the world ended in my house we had to talk to each other for entertainment.
Ahh, the hypocracy of OfCon: fining for providers not ensuring 3rd parties are not up to scratch ( let only when said supplier has actually allegedly fixed the problem). Yet when OfCon fails to ensure its own rules are not met its ‘suppliers’ (those it lets carry our work, where is the punitive dammage enforcement?
E.g. Mobile networks without reliable outage backup, termininting services (3g, analogue PSTN) whithout service replacement continuance reliability…
So when someone suffers, e.g. telecare / cant make a 999 call due to voip failure etc, a) will OfCon fine itself (with out pass through to paying customers of its regulated services..) or be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter, after all it is the ‘regulator’?
Hypocricy of the regulator indeed. Seems to me it smells the same as OfWat’s odourous capability.
May I suggest
Stricter Accountability Measures: Implementing mechanisms that hold regulators accountable for their own failures could enhance public trust and ensure that they prioritize consumer safety.
Enhanced Oversight: Regular audits and assessments of regulatory practices could help identify areas where improvements are needed, ensuring that they are not only enforcing rules but also adhering to them.
Public Reporting: Transparency in how regulators handle failures and their consequences could foster greater accountability and allow consumers to make informed decisions.
Consumer Advocacy: Encouraging consumer advocacy groups to voice concerns and hold regulators accountable can help ensure that the needs and safety of the public are prioritized.
Such concerns reflect a broader issue within regulatory frameworks, and addressing these inconsistencies is crucial for maintaining the integrity of essential services, let alone restoration of what has been allowed to transpire and is still being implicated that obviously fails common sense of replacement services past, presently and future.