Australia’s communications regulator has fined another small telco for potentially putting its customers at risk.

Singapore-based telco Circles Life has been hit $250,000 for public safety breaches, after an AMCA investigation found the mobile service provider failed to provide customer information for to the Integrated Public Number Database on more than 60,000 occasions between January and August 2022.

The IPND is an emergency services log used by Triple Zero to help locate people in an emergency, for the Emergency Alert Service to warn Australians of emergencies like flood or bushfire, and to assist law enforcement activities.

Circles Life was unaware its information was not being added to the IPND — its IT systems had an error that prevented its IPND data files from uploading — an oversight that ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said put its users’ safety at risk.

 

“It is alarming that Circles Life had no idea that its customer information was not being uploaded until contacted by the ACMA,” O’Loughlin said.

A Circles Life spokesperson told ChannelNews:

“The safety of our customers remains our number one priority and we have a commitment to working with the ACMA to ensure that we are compliant with providing customer information to the IPND.

“While we have an ongoing priority relationship with both law enforcement and emergency services (who reach out to us directly when they need our support) we acknowledge the importance of the IPND in keeping all Australians safe. We can confirm that not only did we rectify the issue within weeks, we have taken steps to ensure that Circles is never in a situation like this again, including the appointment of an external auditor at our expense and direction.

“We acknowledge that while the IPND system isn’t perfect, we are committed to working with ACMA and other telcos to make it better, for the benefit of all Australians.”

The IPND system certainly doesn’t seem perfect. Over the last five years, ACMA has taken action against 31 telcos for non-compliance with the IPND rules, with close to $4 million in penalties being issued.

Circles Life were hit with another $300,000 in compensation and fines in August 2022, after an ACMA investigation found consumers had suffered financial fraud due to the telco’s failure to have adequate multi-factor ID checks in place.

Circles.Life uses the Optus network.