Telstra penalised for disruption to emergency call service used by people with hearing, speech impairments
Australia's biggest telco failed to provide emergency call service for a period of time last year during a software upgrade, the nation's media regulator has found.
Telstra has paid just under $19,000 in fines and agreed to launch an independent review after it mistakenly disabled the connection to the emergency call relay service, which is used by people with hearing and speech impairments.
An Australian Communications and Media Authority investigation found the 106 number — which can be used with a teletypewriter — was accidentally made unavailable for 12 hours and 46 minutes between July 5 and 6 last year, following a server migration process.
A teletypewriter allows for typed messages to be communicated to police, fire and ambulance services over a phone line.
Under emergency call services rules, telco providers must maintain the proper and effective functioning of their networks and facilities that are used to carry emergency calls.
ACMA member and consumer lead Samantha Yorke said the regulator took any disruption to an emergency call service 'very seriously' given there could be devastating consequences for the public.
'This mistake could have contributed to very serious harm if someone who relies on this service had needed emergency assistance but was unable to get through,' she said.
'Fortunately, the records show no one attempted to use the 106 service for an emergency during the time the service was disabled.'
Telstra has given ACMA a court enforceable undertaking to improve its relevant change management processes.
It has also engaged an independent reviewer to look at the range of operational arrangements that support reliable delivery of the 106 emergency call service.
Telstra has been contacted for comment.
Rival telco Optus was fined a record $12 million by ACMA last November for its network outage a year earlier that left millions of Australians without mobile or internet access, and even left some customers unable to call triple-0.
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