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Mobile network company TPG Telecom says a possible second fatality may be linked to a triple-zero failure from a Samsung handset.
In his opening statement to a Senate inquiry on Tuesday, the telco’s chief executive Iñaki Berroeta said TPG was informed by Telstra on Monday that a customer in Wentworth Falls in the NSW Blue Mountains was unable to call triple-zero on their Samsung phone on 24 September.
That customer was able to reach emergency services about five minutes later through an alternate method but is believed to have later died, Berroeta said.
He added company was awaiting confirmation from NSW Ambulance that the customer’s death was linked to the failure.
During a recent Senate session, a representative revealed that authorities had been aware that a particular device was incapable of making calls, including emergency calls, at the time in question. “We investigated the device, even reaching out to it directly, but we were unaware that someone might have passed away,” he explained.
Early investigations into that incident point to the TPG customer’s ageing Samsung phone using software incompatible with making triple-zero calls.
“Even though it was a 4G device, when an emergency call was placed, they would go into the 3G technology at the time, where 3G networks were not going to be available,” Berroeta said.
TPG claims it made regulators aware of the problem at the end of 2023 before the national 3G network shutdown.
According to Australian regulations, telecommunications companies are mandated to block devices that cannot connect to the triple-zero emergency service.
Around 18,000 TPG customers still have phones that cannot access triple-zero because they require a software update or an entirely new device, Berroeta said.
“These devices will be progressively blocked in the coming weeks, if no action is taken,” he said.
Samsung has identified 11 phones needing replacement and another 60 requiring a software update to overcome the 3G network issue.
Anyone who has not done so within five weeks of receiving notice from their telco will have their handset blocked.
The Samsung-specific issue with the Vodafone network was discovered by Telstra and Optus in late October, a year after the two telcos turned off 3G.
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
