Telecommunications giant Optus is under intense scrutiny after a nationwide outage left millions of Australians without access to emergency services for 13 hours, with the failure linked to at least three deaths.
The outage, which occurred last Thursday, blocked more than 600 calls to triple-0 across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and parts of New South Wales. Optus confirmed that welfare checks conducted after services were restored revealed three people had died, including a baby boy. Authorities in Western Australia are also investigating a possible fourth death.
Chief executive Stephen Rue apologized to families affected, calling the situation “completely unacceptable.” He attributed the incident to a technical fault during a network upgrade but admitted the company did not detect the issue for 13 hours. Despite customers raising complaints, the failures were not escalated in time.
Optus is also being criticized for its slow response. The telco waited 40 hours before informing the public, and only notified regulators after the problem had been fixed. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has condemned the company’s handling, saying Australians must always be able to reach emergency services.
This is the second major outage for Optus in two years. In 2023, the company failed to connect over 2,100 emergency calls and neglected to follow up on hundreds of affected customers.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said there was “no excuse” for triple-0 call failures, accusing the company of “an enormous failure on the Australian people.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested that Rue should consider resigning.
Investigations into the outage are ongoing. Optus has pledged daily updates and promised reforms to prevent future failures. However, regulators and government officials have warned that the company will face “significant consequences” for breaching its most fundamental responsibility: keeping Australians connected to life-saving emergency services.
