Optus has paid a $12m fine after its mobile network outage last year left more than 2,000 people unable to make emergency calls to triple zero. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) announced the penalty on Thursday, citing breaches of emergency call rules.
The outage, caused by a routine software upgrade, brought down Optus's network for 14 hours across Australia, affecting 10 million customers. During this time, 2,145 people were unable to connect to emergency services, and Optus failed to conduct welfare checks on 369 of those individuals.
Acma chair Nerida O'Loughlin stated that the outage was preventable and highlighted failures in network management. The regulator has since been directed by the communications minister to develop new industry standards to improve the resilience of triple zero services.
An Optus spokesperson acknowledged the company had let customers down and said it has invested $1bn in network upgrades. The company is cooperating with regulators on new standards and has been contacting affected customers to offer support.
