The Australian government has warned that Optus will face 'significant consequences' after a network outage last week prevented hundreds of people from reaching emergency services, an incident now linked to three deaths across two states. Communications Minister Anika Wells stated on Monday that the telco has 'no excuses here' and must be held accountable.
The outage, which occurred on Thursday, affected up to 600 households in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and parts of New South Wales. Welfare checks later revealed that two people in South Australia and one in Perth had died during the failure. However, authorities now believe the outage was 'unlikely to have contributed' to the death of an eight-week-old boy initially linked to the fault.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) chair, Nerida O'Loughlin, confirmed that the regulator was not informed of the outage until after it was resolved, and that Optus provided 'inaccurate' information. O'Loughlin noted that ACMA's powers allow for financial penalties, not criminal charges, and that the investigation will examine whether Optus properly informed customers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Optus's behaviour as 'completely unacceptable' and suggested that CEO Stephen Rue should consider his position. 'Optus has obligations, and quite clearly they haven't fulfilled them,' Albanese said from New York. Optus has since implemented compulsory escalation processes for triple zero outages, but the company was unaware of the issue until a customer reported it at 1:30 pm on Thursday. The outage was resolved after 13 hours.
