Communications Minister Anika Wells has warned Optus that it’s set to face “significant consequences” following last week’s triple-zero outage, during which three people died.
On Friday, Optus CEO Stephen Rue revealed that the telco’s network update, which resulted in a triple-zero outage the day prior, affected up to 600 homes in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The outage has been potentially linked to three deaths, including the death of a 68-year-old woman in Adelaide, and two men in Perth, one aged 74 and another 49.
Over the weekend, a fourth death — an eight-week-old baby near Adelaide — was linked to the outage. However, South Australia Police say it’s “unlikely” the outage contributed to the tragedy.
“I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most,” Rue said.
“And I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away.
“I am so sorry for your loss. What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down.
“You have my assurance that we are conducting a thorough investigation, and once concluded, we will share the facts of the incident publicly.”
It’s now been reported that the communication regulator was only informed of the incident hours after it was fixed, and claimed that Optus provided them with “inaccurate” information, according to The Guardian.
Anika Wells condemned Optus, stating that it had “failed the Australian people”.
“They can expect to suffer significant consequences as a result,” she told reporters on Monday.
Speaking to ABC News from New York, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would “be surprised” if Rue hadn’t considered stepping down as Optus’ CEO as investigations into the outage begin.
“I’d be surprised if that wasn’t occurring, but … [what] we want to see is the investigation take place,” he told the publication.
“Optus has obligations, as do other communications companies, and quite clearly… they haven’t fulfilled the obligations that they have.”
Albanese added the government had “action at its disposal”. However, its priority is to make sure a thorough investigation is conducted to “find out the facts, exactly how this happened”.
Australian Communications Media Authority promises a comprehensive investigation
During a press conference with the chair of the Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, promised a “comprehensive investigation and response” into Optus’ outage and its handling of the incident, The Guardian reports.
“We will be considered about our response, but there will be consequences for [Optus] and the broader telecommunications sector. Optus will be held accountable for this failure. They and all providers have no excuses here,” she said, per the publication.
“They must now work with the government and ACMA to make their systems better.”
O’Loughlin also criticised the company for the outage two years after a similar one took place.
According to ABC News, ACMA found that about 2,145 Optus customers didn’t have access to triple zero during an outage in 2023 and that the telco failed to conduct 368 welfare checks on those who attempted to contact emergency services during the outage.
As a result, Optus was hit with more than $12 million in penalties for the failures in 2023.
“We didn’t expect to be here again so soon, less than two years after that breach,” she added.
O’Loughlin didn’t get into details regarding what the consequences could be. However, the Telco could face penalties of more than $10 million.
In a statement to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Optus confirmed that a “technical failure impacted triple-zero calls” during a “network upgrade” on Thursday.
“This resulted in the failure of a number of Triple Zero calls in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia,” it said.
“Optus apologises unreservedly for this failure, which resulted in a number of customers being unable to get through to emergency services in their time of need.”
Optus says normal calls were still connected during the outage and that the technical failure has now been fixed. It also acknowledged the deaths that have been potentially linked to the failure.
“During the process of conducting welfare checks, we were advised that three of the Triple Zero calls involved households where a person tragically passed away. Optus became aware of a fourth death as a result of a welfare check conducted by Western Australia police late afternoon on Saturday, 20 September,” it said.
“Optus Specialist Care is available to any of our customers who have been affected by this incident. This is a dedicated support service for vulnerable customers, offering tailored support.”
Image source: 9News.
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