29 September 2025
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has imposed a £700,000 fine on VoIP provider Vonage following an investigation into a serious service disruption that impacted emergency calls.
The investigation, which began in March 2024, centred on a fault that occurred between 23rd October and 3rd November 2023, during which Vonage's business customers were unable to connect to emergency services (999 and 112) via their desk phones for 11 days.
Under UK regulations (including General Condition A3.2 and sections of the Communications Act 2003), telecom providers are required to ensure continuous availability of public communications services, especially for emergency access. Vonage’s failure to meet these standards was deemed a serious breach, given the critical importance of reliable emergency services and the increasing reliance on IP-based telephony as traditional landlines decline.
Ofcom’s investigation found that during the outage:
• Customers could not connect to emergency services via Vonage’s VoIP service.
• Internal processes lacked adequate assessment of whether software updates could impact emergency call functionality.
• Post-update testing was not carried out, leading to the service failure.
• Monitoring procedures were insufficient, preventing early detection of the outage.
“Being able to call the emergency services can mean the difference between life and death. It’s vital that telecom providers take their responsibilities seriously, and Vonage fell short on multiple levels, risking unacceptable harm to its customers,” said George Lusty, Ofcom’s Enforcement Director.
Vonage has acknowledged the incident, stating that the outage was caused by a planned software update and that they have now implemented comprehensive corrective actions. These include improved development, testing, deployment processes, enhanced monitoring, and proactive alerting systems. The company has also agreed to pay the £700,000 penalty within four weeks, which will be transferred to HM Treasury.
The fine is notably larger than the £24,500 penalty Vonage received in 2018 for a previous service fault that disrupted emergency access, reflecting the seriousness of this recent breach.
In their official statement, Vonage expressed regret, emphasising their commitment to transparency and reliability: "We sincerely apologise for the emergency calling outage. Since the incident, we have taken extensive corrective actions to prevent recurrence and are dedicated to ensuring the safety and security of our customers. We remain fully committed to restoring and maintaining trust."
