Need to know
- In the latest Optus outage on 28 September, nine triple-0 calls reportedly failed to get through
- Three people reportedly died after failing to connect to triple-0 during a bigger Optus outage that occured ten days earlier
- A nationwide Optus outage in 2023 left around 10 million people without service and 2000 calls to triple-0 unanswered
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is calling on the federal government to impose conditions on Optus's licence to operate following back-to-back outages and the loss of triple-0 services for thousands of Australians.
The latest outage on 28 September affected around 4500 Optus customers around Wollongong and the south coast of NSW, where nine triple-0 calls reportedly failed to get through.
Ten days earlier, an Optus outage led to hundreds of failed triple-0 calls. Three people reportedly died after failing to connect to triple-0 during the time of the outage. The Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) is investigating this incident.
Every time the network goes down, it undermines public confidence and puts people at risk
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett says it's time to force telcos to have processes in place to prevent triple-0 failures. In Optus's case, it should be a condition on their licence to provide services.
"Every time the network goes down, it undermines public confidence and puts people at risk. This can be catastrophic and cause immense harm. The community must have confidence that the emergency call system works 100% of the time when they most need it," Bennett says.
"Before these devastating outages, Optus was already facing major consumer trust issues. Now this lack of trust is spreading to damage confidence in our emergency service system itself."
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett is calling on the federal government to make a reliable triple-0 system a condition for Optus's licence to operate.
Triple Zero Custodian not yet active
Optus has had years to ensure its systems could handle a failure without knocking out triple-0 services. A nationwide Optus outage in 2023 left around 10 million people without service and 2000 calls to triple-0 unanswered.
An ACMA investigation at the time concluded that Optus had breached emergency call service regulations and the telco paid a $12 million penalty.
Following the 2023 breakdown, a Triple Zero Custodian framework was recommended in a review commissioned by the federal government. It called for the emergency call system across Australia to be independently monitored.
The communications minister must act and use carrier licence conditions to mandate independent technical oversight of Optus' emergency and network reliability systems
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett
The custodian role that would manage this reportedly exists within the federal government but has yet to be activated. Following the recent Optus failures, Communications Minister Anika Wells told media outlets that she intends to prioritise this.
In a statement following the most recent Optus outages, ACMA said that being able to contact emergency services is "the most fundamental responsibility every telco provider has to the public". The agency is investigating whether Optus has once again breached emergency call service regulations.
"Australians are seeing a repeat of failures to provide the reliable service that they need and deserve," Bennett says.
"The communications minister must act and use carrier licence conditions to mandate independent technical oversight of Optus' emergency and network reliability systems. This would provide some assurance that there is strict oversight preventing further failures."
Optus failures on other fronts suggests that corporate culture may be at issue.
In November last year, we reported that the telco had pressured around 429 consumers into buying products and services they didn't actually need or want, and sent debt collectors after them when they couldn't pay.
Many were First Nations Australians from regional and remote areas or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In June this year, Optus agreed to pay a $100 million penalty for the conduct.
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