ACCC refused to recall 740,000 phones now linked to a triple-0 failures

The ACCC last year rejected pleas to recall 740,000 phones that couldn’t call triple-0, with a Sydney resident’s death now linked to the obsolete devices.

The ACCC, chaired by Gina Cass -Gottlieb, said last year ‘the affected mobile handsets do not have a characteristic that is likely to cause injury’ and therefore don’t qualify for a recall. Picture: John Feder

Australia’s competition watchdog ignored pleas from telcos last year to recall thousands of outdated mobile phones – one of which has been linked to a death in Sydney – that would prevent people from calling triple-0.

A person died last week after a customer of TPG Telecom, which owns Vodafone, failed to connect to triple-0 using an older, and now obsolete, Samsung phone.

TPG has attributed the failure to the device’s incompatible software, a systemic vulnerability now believed to affect tens of thousands of handsets across multiple networks.

Pressure is mounting on Australia’s regulators, with four deaths linked to telecommunication failures in two months, following Optus’s fatal triple-0 outage in September.

The latest death underscores the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s hard-line interpretation of its powers.

In meetings with Telstra, Optus and TPG last year, the commission refused to initiate a product recall for an estimated 740,000 devices that could not be used to call emergency services when the 3G network was turned off 14 months ago.

TPG chief executive Iñaki Berroeta. Picture: Adam Yip

In April last year, an ACCC spokeswoman confirmed the refusal, stating that the commission’s recall powers were typically activated if a product was dangerous or likely to cause injury.

“The affected mobile handsets do not have a characteristic that is likely to cause injury,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the devices “are not the cause of the injury”, even if they prevent an emergency call being placed.

The telcos argued that the ­inability to call triple-0 would ­severely “exacerbate an injury or worsen someone’s health condition”. They had hoped the ACCC would host a list of affected phones on its website to assist with a public awareness campaign, a request the regulator also rejected.

An ACCC spokeswoman reiterated the regulator’s stance late on Wednesday.

She said it was up to the Australian Communications and Media Authority and telcos to “identify and notify customers with phones unable to access the emergency call service, and to give information and assistance to customers to access alternative low cost or no-cost mobile phones”.

“This includes consumers with handsets that will only operate on the 3G network, which has now been decommissioned. Under the Australian Consumer Law, a consumer good can be subject to a recall where it has a defect or dangerous characteristic that will or may cause injury to a person,” the spokeswoman said.

“The ACCC expects that when a supplier finds that a product they supplied is unsafe that they will voluntarily recall the product.

The core issue is the failure of certain older phones to switch to an alternate mobile network when the primary service is not available – a crucial safety feature for emergency calls.

The dual threats – the 3G switchover and the recently identified handset incompatibility issue – suggest that the failure of emergency call access is a systemic problem that extends beyond network collapses to encompass tens of thousands of non-compliant devices.

Telcos are now stepping up their own warnings. Telstra identified numerous Samsung models that require either an immediate software upgrade or replacement to ensure they can connect to triple-0, and noted that the failure was in the handset software, not its network.

Separately, Vodafone customers with older iPhones (including the 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE 2016 Gen 1) must replace their devices to maintain triple-0 access via Wi-Fi calling, with a deadline set for December 1.

TPG is also blocking non-compliant handsets after a 28 to 35-day grace period. “We recently identified approximately 24,000 customers with Samsung devices that require a software update, and around 6000 Samsung devices that cannot be updated and must be replaced,” a TPG spokesman said.

These devices are slated for disconnection on either ­December 10 or 16.

The company is employing a multichannel “proactive calling campaign” to reach every customer with a device unable to call triple-0, using direct calls, text messages and emails.

It has also implemented a warning message that plays before any call is connected from an affected device, alerting the customer that their handset cannot make emergency calls and needs to be updated or replaced.

The TPG spokesman said the company would also provide “$0 and subsidised handsets to vulnerable customers”, including those experiencing financial hardship, as the industry scrambles to address the problem.

Consumer advocates warn that public safety remains at risk.

Originally published as ACCC refused to recall 740,000 phones now linked to a triple-0 failures