Another triple-zero failure death adds to telco trouble
Faulty phones unable to reach emergency services led to another death, putting further pressure on the under-fire telecommunications industry.
TPG Telecom general manager Iñaki Berroeta said Tuesday that his company found another customer who was unable to call triple zero because their phones were not compatible with the 4G emergency calling network.
Mr Berroeta told the Senate inquiry that the person reached emergency services five minutes later by alternative means on September 24, but the customer was later believed to have died.
The manager said he learned about the suspicious death on Monday.
“We knew the device was unable to make calls at the time, we investigated the device, including contacting the device, but we did not know that a person may have passed away,” Mr Berroeta told the Senate.
The person lived at Wentworth Falls in the NSW Blue Mountains, but TPG has not yet confirmed the incident with emergency services and was unable to provide further details.
This is the second death for TPG, which also operates the Vodafone and Lebara brands in Australia, after a customer failed to reach triple zero on November 13.
The telecommunications industry has faced intense scrutiny after three people died and hundreds of triple zero callers were unable to reach emergency services during the Optus outage in September.
Initial investigations into TPG’s November incident indicate that the customer’s outdated Samsung phone was using software that was incompatible with triple zero calls.
“Even though it was a 4G device, when the emergency call was made they were switching to 3G technology, which was not available at the time,” Mr. Berroeta said.
TPG claims to have informed regulators of the issue in late 2023, before the national 3G network was shut down.
Under Australian law, telecommunications companies are required to block devices if they cannot call triple zero.
About 18,000 TPG customers still have phones that can’t reach triple zero because they need a software update or a completely new device, Mr. Berroeta said.
“If no action is taken, these devices will be gradually blocked over the coming weeks.”
Samsung determined that 11 phones needed to be replaced and 60 phones required software updates to overcome the 3G network issue.
People who fail to do so within five weeks of receiving notification from the telecommunications company will have their mobile phones blocked.
The Samsung-specific problem on Vodafone’s network was discovered by Telstra and Optus in late October, a year after the two telcos shut down 3G.
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