By now, you’ve probably heard that Gigaclear have had a slap on the wrist for a data management situation which could have resulted in 948 blue-light despatches from 999 going to the wrong address.
We have to await the full decision from Ofcom, not just the press-release soundbites, but it appears that there were issues in the flow of information between them, and their chosen PECN provider.
I’ve blogged on the importance of 999 handling before. It’s easy to make assumptions in advance of the full text being published by the regulator, but, based on the limited information in the press release, the situation appears to be pretty inexcusable.
Remember: in Simwood, 999 onboarding is FREE. Testing (for which there is a dedicated process) is FREE. We route calls first, ask questions later (and deal with the shrieking from the call handing authority, within reason, for FREE).
If you have ANY numbers from the UK National Telephone Numbering Plan whatsoever, and you are not onboarded, Gigaclear should be (yet another) wake up call. Get on it. Reach out to support (team@simwood.com) or your Account Manager.
Anyway, that’s not what I want to write about. (I lie – it’s not what I want to rant about).
The appallingly low fine in the circumstances, especially relative to other work by Ofcom, has exposed the sheer unwavering ineptitude of the Government. I have a lot of respect for people at Ofcom; as economic regulators go around the world, we could be doing a lot worse. But their actions are a function of the law of the land. Ofcom is a child of the will of Parliament, so it is Parliament that needs to take a long hard look at itself, not the people in Riverside House.
Here in Alberta, Canada, we have pretty good state-provided healthcare. There are a few differences to the UK – one of which is you have to pay for your ambulance. Some factors are at play here, but roughly, at today’s exchange rate, if you’re simply treated at the scene, it’s £135.
Ofcom’s fine on Gigaclear is £119 per offence. In other words (albeit using a foreign country as a reference), less than the cost of a blue-light roll of an ambulance. Ofcom fines are remitted to HM Treasury. I am sure King Charlie III is ecstatic to learn that his coffers aren’t even receiving back the cost directly incurred, let alone the cost of the enforcement action too.
Of course, that assumes each of the 948 offences in question led to wasted time for our emergency services. But, Ofcom is a reasonable regulator – the odd minor issue here and there is dealt with by education, not enforcement. Generally, it has to be egregious behaviour that leads to a trip to the Headmaster’s office, so for now, I am assuming that there was frustration in various corners of the civil service that led to the investigation.
Putting things into perspective, Ofcom fined OnlyFans over a million pounds because their parent company failed to explain to Ofcom how they prevented seventeen year olds from seeing boobies on the internet.
Let’s get this straight.
Not responding to an information request about preventing teenagers from seeing breasts is, in terms of financial penalty, 8.5x WORSE than potentially sending 948 blue-light rolls to the wrong address. Apparently, that conduct is worse than endangering 948 lives.
Or to put it another way, 8,125 (and a fraction) lives at risk is the same liquidated equivalent as failing to explain how you prevent a teenager from seeing naked ladies.
The Gospel of John 11:35 springs to mind. Ordinarily I say “society is doomed” when Parnita comes out with the latest Gen-Zism. I need to apologise to her for the hyperbole in relation to her generation, but not the overall sentiment – society truly is doomed.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Telecommunications is so critical to the fabric of society that we have laws about maintaining service, assuming that [insert random despot here] manages to interrupt all international connectivity to the UK. It’s so important that the Government has the right to mandate social tariffs for the poorest. We have the aforementioned obligations about providing connectivity to the emergency services – along with ones to ensure that it still works if the power goes out in your home.
I happen to agree. Communication is a fundamental tenant of a functioning society. In fact, it’s so central to democracy, free speech is one of the most important rights in Western constitutions (and their variants), along with telecoms being recognised as a statutory right in some corners, including the UK.
So why does the Government demand 20% of your phone bill in luxury goods tax (sorry, “VAT”)? Why does the Government think your phone bill is more deserving of being taxed than Jaffa Cakes and caviar (both exempt)?
Simon says I can’t actually use profanity on this blog, so to conclude, I will invite the reader to make a three-word rhyming sentence that ends “a duck.”
Oh, and if you’re not sure about your 999 onboarding status, get in touch with your Account Manager or our support team. And if you’re not happy with your current provider’s approach to the same, get in touch too. We can help.