TPG Telecom confirms death linked to triple-0 call failure and faulty Samsung phone
TPG Telecom says a person has died after an outdated Samsung phone prevented them calling triple-0 call, exposing critical flaws in Australia’s emergency phone system.
New critical flaws in the nation’s emergency call system have been exposed after Vodafone owner TPG Telecom confirmed a person had died in Sydney when a customer could not connect to triple-0 using an outdated Samsung phone on one of its budget brands.
It marks the second fatal failure involving a major telecommunications carrier in two months – after three deaths were linked to Optus’s triple-0 outage in September – dramatically escalating the political and regulatory pressure on the industry to safeguard essential emergency access.
She added that TPG’s compliance with the Emergency Call Service Determination would be rigorously assessed by the telecommunication industry watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
“My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the person who has died,” Ms Wells said.
While the exact details are yet to be confirmed, it’s understood a customer using the Lebara brand attempted to call triple-0 on behalf of a relative, who later died last Thursday after the phone failed to connect with the emergency services platform in Sydney.
The telco said it was made aware of the death at 5.22pm on Monday, “following advice from NSW Ambulance”.
While the Optus failure – which the Senate is investigating – was attributed to a network-wide technical collapse, TPG’s preliminary investigation points to a different but equally critical systemic vulnerability: incompatible customer equipment.
TPG said its network was fully operational during the attempted call and that no outages were occurring. Instead, it said in a statement released on Tuesday morning, the failure was caused by the customer’s Samsung device running “software that was not compatible with making triple-0 calls on the network”.
This incompatibility was recently identified, requiring a software update on certain older Samsung models to enable triple-0 functionality on TPG’s network.
TPG chief executive Inaki Berroeta offered “sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of that person at this difficult time”.
“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,” he said on Tuesday morning.
“Access to emergency services is critical. We urge all customers with outdated software to replace or update their devices without delay to ensure they can reach triple-0 in an emergency.”
TPG said it had been communicating with customers since becoming aware of the handset incompatibility issue, urging them to update their devices. TPG is required under new regulations to block non-compliant handsets after a 28 to 35-day period. The most recent communication to the affected customer group was sent on November 7, just six days before the tragedy.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh placed responsibility for the incident on the federal government, arguing that the incompatibility of older Samsung devices was a result of the government’s “botched” 3G network shutdown over 2023 and 2024.
Speaking to reporters in Sydney, Ms McIntosh questioned whether industry and the government could have done more to prevent the incident from occurring.
“Have the telcos been calling every single customer they have? There’s around 50,000, possibly more, customers impacted by this,” she said.
“The minister needs to stand up and demand that every single telco that has customers impacted are doing everything in their power to make sure that their customers are aware and they can move on to new handsets before this happens.”
The TPG incident now suggests this technical vulnerability is not limited to the largest carriers or the 3G transition, but is a widespread, unaddressed compatibility issue affecting emergency access across multiple carrier networks.
TPG says it has notified key stakeholders, including the Communications Minister and the ACMA.
Carol Bennet, chief executive of the communications consumer body ACCAN, warned that despite clear requirements for telcos to identify affected devices, notify customers, and block unsafe handsets caught up in the 3G shutdown, the public’s safety was at risk.
“If those obligations were not met, Australians deserve answers,” she said.
“Confidence in the ACMA’s oversight has been shaken, and there must be full transparency about whether compliance monitoring has been adequate.”
Originally published as TPG Telecom confirms death linked to triple-0 call failure and faulty Samsung phone
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