Telstra has faced repercussions after inadvertently disconnecting its 106 emergency call service for individuals with speech and hearing impairments. This incident, which occurred over a period of 12 hours and 46 minutes between July 5 and July 6 last year, was revealed by an investigation conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Samantha Yorke, ACMA’s consumer lead, commented on the incident, highlighting that fortunately, there were no calls made to the service during the outage. She expressed concern that if someone in need of assistance had tried to use the service, it could have led to dire outcomes.
The regulations governing emergency call services stipulate that telecommunications carriers are responsible for ensuring their networks and facilities function properly to facilitate emergency calls. In light of the outage, Telstra has incurred a penalty of $18,780, alongside a commitment to engage an independent reviewer to assess and enhance the operational processes related to the 106 call service.
Moving forward, Telstra plans to implement the recommendations from this independent review. Additionally, the company will focus on providing targeted training for its staff and will keep ACMA updated on its progress in meeting these obligations.
The investigation also uncovered that Telstra had previously committed 473 violations of emergency call regulations connected to this 90-minute service disruption. This series of issues emphasises the need for stringent adherence to emergency protocols to safeguard the well-being of vulnerable individuals who rely on these critical services.