Ofcom Fines Virgin Media £23.8m for Upgrade Breaches

Virgin Media has been fined 23.8 million pounds by the U.K. media regulator Ofcom for breaching consumer protection rules and endangering thousands of vulnerable customers during a landline upgrade program in late 2023.

The incidents occurred in November and December 2023 as the company migrated customers from traditional analogue landlines to digital services. Ofcom's investigation revealed systemic failures in Virgin Media's processes dating back to August 2022, including inadequate identification and recording of telecare customers. These individuals rely on emergency alarm systems, often used by the elderly or disabled, to connect to monitoring centers in cases of falls, floods, or other hazards. Due to the lapses, affected customers received insufficient support and were not properly engaged in the upgrade process. As a result, their devices lost connectivity to alarm centers during network disconnections, placing them at direct risk of harm.

Ofcom emphasized the severity of the breach, noting that thousands of vulnerable people were impacted. The regulator considered factors such as the seriousness of the violations, the heightened vulnerability of those affected, Virgin...