ASX-listed technology company Aussie Broadband Ltd (ASX: ABB) has been fined $213,120 for "large-scale breaches" of rules that protect Australians.
An investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that the internet service provider failed to provide customer data to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) more than 30,000 times between last November and May this year.
The infringement endangered Aussie Broadband's own customers' lives as the IPND is used by the Triple Zero service to locate people in emergency situations.
The database is also used by the Emergency Alert Service to communicate to residents in areas affected by natural disasters.
'Alarming' failure in software
ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin said Aussie Broadband's failure was "unacceptable".
"While we are not aware anyone was harmed due to the breaches, it is alarming that Aussie Broadband did not have effective processes in place to identify that its customer information was not being provided for over six months."
The industry watchdog has directed Aussie Broadband to continue to comply with the IPND rules or risk court action that could result in penalties of $250,000 per breach.
"While the breaches should not have occurred, we are pleased to see Aussie Broadband moved quickly to upload the missing data once it was brought to its attention and has taken steps to comply in future," said O'Loughlin.
Aussie Broadband boss apologises
Aussie Broadband managing director Phillip Britt apologised for the error and accepted the penalty.
"Whilst we had several checks and balances in place, these did not go far enough and I'm confident that our new compliance checks will ensure this never happens again," he said.
"We are deeply sorry that this software failure went undetected leading to inaccurate records in the IPND database."
Aussie Broadband stated that it has now "implemented further redundancy measures, error notifications, independent monitoring and regular audits" to comply with the IPND rules.
According to the ACMA, it is on an "ongoing campaign" to improve the quality of the data in the IPND to better protect the public.
The watchdog has taken action against 30 telecommunications companies since 2018 for breaching IPND rules, resulting in almost $4 million fines.
