Virgin Media has been fined £23.8m after rushing to switch off elderly customers’ landlines.
Ofcom said the company had put thousands of vulnerable customers at “direct risk of harm” by moving them to digital landlines.
The company received the penalty after it admitted it had disconnected customers with so-called “telecare” devices – personal alarms designed to be activated in a health emergency or after a fall. These devices are connected to a person’s landline, which rings emergency services if the button if pressed.
Virgin Media flagged “a number of serious incidents” in November and December 2023 as it switched customers from the UK’s old copper landline network to the digital alternative.
The regulator found that the company failed to properly identify and record the status of telecare customers, “resulting in significant gaps in the screening process”.
Ofcom said that thousands of vulnerable customers had their telecare alarms effectively switched off between April 2022 and December 2023 while the disconnection was in place.
Ian Strawhorne, the regulator’s director of enforcement, said: “It’s unacceptable that vulnerable customers were put at direct risk of harm and left without appropriate support by Virgin Media, during what should have been a safe and straightforward upgrade to their landline services.
“Today’s fine makes clear to companies that, if they fail to protect their vulnerable customers, they can expect to face similar enforcement action.”
Telecom companies are in the process of switching customers from traditional copper-based networks to digital alternatives.
The ageing copper networks have become increasingly unstable, leading to an increase in outages. Many parts required for copper networks are also no longer produced, making it harder to fix faults.
However, the switchover has proved controversial given many older and vulnerable people rely on their landlines. It has led to concerns about possible harm as the networks are changed.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, a senior citizens campaign group, said it “has continuing concerns that the switch to digital landlines is compromising the safety of vulnerable customers”.
He said: “Many such customers may be confused, frail or ill and if they fail to contact their telecom supplier they will find their traditional landline cut off and receive a router through the post that they have to set up themselves.
“They will find in an emergency that their phone is dead. In a dereliction of government responsibility, this major infrastructure project has been left to the commercial operators to implement, under weak national guidelines.
“Ministers have refused my many requests to discuss the challenges of this botched and rushed programme. Unfortunately further lives will be lost while the Government and telecom companies cross their fingers that there will be no further tragedies.”
Virgin Media has previously complained that telecare companies and local governments were not doing enough to prepare for the digital switch, leaving elderly and vulnerable at risk. Rob Orr, Virgin Media O2’s chief operating officer, said in 2023 that councils and telecare companies needed to “step up”.
Virgin Media has four weeks to pay the fine, which will then be passed on to the Treasury.
A spokesman for the company said it had updated its procedures since 2023 and introduced further safeguards to improve its treatment of vulnerable customers.
It said: “While historically the majority of migrations were completed without issue, we recognise that we didn’t get everything right and have since addressed the migration issues identified by Ofcom.”
This includes a package of support for vulnerable customers including improved communications, additional at-home support and extensive checks following the switchover, as well as taking part in a national awareness campaign.
The company also stressed that it was “essential we move our customers to digital services” from traditional analogue landlines which are “less reliable and difficult to maintain”.
