Virgin Media has been fined £23.8m by Ofcom for putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk during the switch from analogue to digital landlines. The regulator found the company failed to protect customers who relied on telecare alarms to call for help.
The fine follows Virgin Media's self-reporting of serious incidents in November and December 2023. Ofcom discovered systemic failures in the company's migration process between August 2022 and December 2023, including not properly identifying telecare users and disconnecting those who did not engage with the switch. This prevented their devices from connecting to alarm monitoring centres.
Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom's director of enforcement, stated: '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.' The fine, which includes a 30% discount for self-reporting, must be paid within four weeks and will go to the Treasury.
Ofcom noted Virgin Media has since taken corrective steps, including manual reviews and contacting its nearly 43,000 telecare users. A Virgin Media spokesperson 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.' The company has introduced improved communications, in-home support, and post-migration checks.
