TPG Telecom triple-0 death: Sydney customer using Samsung phone dies, unable to connect

A TPG Telecom customer tragically lost his life after being unable to connect to triple 0 emergency services.

The Sydney-based customer, who was using the Lebara service on his Samsung device, passed away on November 13 and the telco was notified of the incident by NSW Ambulance on Monday afternoon.

TPG said that when attempting to connect to the Triple-0 service, the mobile network was operational and there was no outage.

An early investigation conducted by the telco suggests that the failed calls were caused by the customer’s Samsung device being run with outdated software that was not compatible with making triple 0 calls on the network.

“Customer safety remains our highest priority. This is a tragic incident and our condolences and thoughts are with the individual’s family and loved ones,” TPG Telecom General Manager and CEO Inaki Berroeta said in a statement.

“We urge all customers with outdated software to replace or update their devices without delay to ensure they can reach Triple Zero in an emergency.”

The telco reported the incident to the Minister of Communications, the NSW Government, ACMA, Triple Zero Custodian and other relevant government and regulatory bodies.

More to come…