Lycamobile Pty Ltd has paid a $186,480 penalty after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found further contraventions in relation to previous enforcement actions for public safety failures.
In 2021, Lycamobile paid a $604,800 penalty and entered into a court-enforceable undertaking after failing to provide customer data to the Integrated Public Number Database used by police and emergency services.
The ACMA also gave Lycamobile a remedial direction to comply with customer identity rules after the company failed to undertake proper ID checks when activating prepaid mobile services.
Under these enforcement actions, Lycamobile was required to provide written reports to the ACMA about how it would improve its ID verification for prepaid SIM owners, the staff training it would undertake and the independent auditor it would appoint.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said a new investigation was commenced after Lycamobile failed to take action in the required timeframes.
“Lycamobile has shown an ongoing disregard for its obligations and the commitments it has made to the ACMA. It consistently missed deadlines, provided inadequate reports and, when we raised these matters on multiple occasions, gave subsequent commitments that it then failed to meet,” she said.
“We take these types of commitments very seriously and will act when telcos fail to meet them.”.
Alongside payment of the new penalty, ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said that they were finally seeing signs that Lycamobile is starting to take its obligations seriously.
“Breaching obligations and not fulfilling commitments to the regulator has been costly for the company and caused potential harm to its customers. We will continue to watch Lycamobile closely to make sure it’s doing the right thing by its customers and the public,” she said.
Lycamobile’s remedial direction and enforceable undertaking will remain in place for a further two years. Should Lycamobile fail to comply with its obligations again, the ACMA can commence proceedings in the Federal Court for civil penalties of up to $250,000 per contravention.
Source: ACMA Media Release. Content has been edited for style and length.