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Optus network outage in which three people died lasted eight hours longer than telco initially said Two customers warned Optus triple zero calls were down, but it was not escalated, CEO confirms
(about 2 hours later)
Optus outage that left 600 customers unable to call triple zero, including three incidents involving a death, lasted five times longer than first reported Emergency calls were offline for nearly fourteen hours, during which three people died – including an eight-week-old baby
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Triple-zero calls were out of action for eight hours longer than Optus initially claimed after a “bewildering” response to a botched network upgrade during which three people died, authorities have revealed. Two customers called Optus during its network outage on Thursday to warn the telco that triple zero calls were not working, but the complaints were not escalated, its CEO confirmed on Saturday.
Optus has admitted to the SA government calls were out of action for 10 hours on Thursday while SA police worked through Friday night conducting welfare checks on 150 people whose triple-zero calls failed, the state’s premier, Peter Malinauskas, said on Saturday. It comes as Optus also confirmed the emergency calls were offline for nearly 14 hours, during which three people died – including an eight-week-old baby. Two of the deaths were in South Australia, while the third was in Western Australia.
SA police confirmed an eight-week-old boy from Gawler, on Adelaide’s northern fringe, and a 68-year-old woman from the Adelaide suburb of Queenstown had died during the outage. The Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, told reporters on Saturday afternoon: “We now know we were informed by two individuals that they could not connect into triple zero, and this information was not surfaced with the relevant escalation at that time.”
The third death linked to the incident, which involved up to 600 attempted triple-zero calls, occurred in Western Australia – on Saturday, the state government confirmed the deceased was a 74-year-old man. “Early review suggests that we had not handled these calls as would be expected,” he said.
“It is shocking and it is completely unacceptable that people’s lives have been put at risk and of course, with deep sadness I can confirm that one 74-year-old man has passed away,” Labor minister John Carey said at a press conference on Saturday morning. Earlier on Saturday, the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said triple zero calls were out of action for 10 hours – eight hours longer than Optus initially claimed – but Rue confirmed on Saturday afternoon the timeframe was more than 13 hours.
“WA police are now making safety checks on the calls that did not get through and they’re working through that.” The CEO confirmed the planned technical upgrade began at 12.30am on Thursday but was cut short at 1.50pm after the telco was notified by SA police that there was an problem.
“Once notified, we stopped the upgrade, restoring triple zero, and began to confirm with relevant stakeholders, such as police and other regulatory and government agencies and departments that we had experienced an outage impacting triple zero,” he said.
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Optus had a duty to inform authorities as quickly as possible “and the fact that didn’t occur until after a press conference on Friday beggars belief”, Malinauskas said. Rue said Optus commenced welfare checks, and during which it learned three people had died during the outage.
Malinauskas said that after the Optus press conference on Friday, SA police were given the details, including names, of the deceased when the premier called Optus chief executive Stephen Rue directly. “Once we had this information and were confident of its accuracy, we shared this with our board, with the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority), the federal government and other bodies,” he said.
“They’ve got to make sure they’re letting our emergency services know … all the information the moment they have it, before they think about crafting a media statement,” he said. On Saturday, the federal government confirmed the ACMA would conduct an investigation.
SA police, which had also worked through Friday night conducting welfare checks on 150 people whose triple zero calls failed, confirmed an eight-week-old boy from Gawler, on Adelaide’s northern fringe, and a 68-year-old woman from Queenstown, a suburb in the city’s north-west, had died during the outage.
The third death linked to the outage, which involved up to 600 attempted triple zero calls, was a 74-year-old Western Australian man, the state government confirmed on Saturday.
“It is shocking and it is completely unacceptable that people’s lives have been put at risk, and of course, with deep sadness, I can confirm that one 74-year-old man has passed away,” Labor minister John Carey said at a press conference.
“WA police are now making safety checks on the calls that did not get through, and they’re working through that.”
Malinauskas said he was not informed about the outage until Optus had commenced a press conference announcing it to the public. He told reporters he had never witnessed “such incompetence” from an Australian communications company.
The premier said that only after its press conference on Friday did Optus give SA police the details, including the names of the deceased.
“They’ve got to make sure they’re letting our emergency services know … all the information the moment they have it, before they think about crafting a media statement,” Malinauskas said.
“It is somewhat extraordinary we had a situation (on Friday) after everything that had unfolded, that we were still struggling to get information from Optus to allow police to do their work.”“It is somewhat extraordinary we had a situation (on Friday) after everything that had unfolded, that we were still struggling to get information from Optus to allow police to do their work.”
Carey echoed the premier’s words on Saturday.
“It is unbelievable, and the way that Optus has even just released the news, I think, is appalling.”
Optus would be “held to account” and would need to explain why it initially said it was a two-hour outage before admitting it lasted for 10 hours, the premier said.
SA police commissioner Grant Stevens told the premier on Friday night Optus had only supplied the suburbs where the deaths had occurred.
“I then called the CEO of Optus and thankfully, it was rectified following that,” he said.
“But the lack of information flow from Optus to the South Australian government’s appropriate authorities is somewhat bewildering and it raises a lot of questions.”
Federal communications minister Anika Wells said the incident was “incredibly serious and completely unacceptable”.
“The impact of this failure has had tragic consequences and my personal thoughts are with those who have lost a loved one,” she said in a statement.
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Carey echoed the premier’s words on Saturday. “It is unbelievable, and the way that Optus has even just released the news, I think, is appalling.”
Rue said on Saturday afternoon that he had asked his team to make a plan for establishing a formal notification process between the telco and authorities during such incidents.
“I’m sorry that the lack of this process led to the late notification of the premiers and chief ministers,” he said, confirming they were contacted at the same time as Friday’s press conference was held.
“Optus will be appointing an independent person to lead a review into this entire incident, from every aspect. I hope to confirm that person in coming days.
“The loss of the lives of three people, two in South Australia and one in Western Australia, is absolutely tragic. I would again like to extend my deepest condolences to their families and friends.”
The SA police commissioner, Grant Stevens, told the premier on Friday night that Optus had only supplied the suburbs where the deaths had occurred.
“I then called the CEO of Optus and thankfully, it was rectified following that,” he said.
“But the lack of information flow from Optus to the South Australian government’s appropriate authorities is somewhat bewildering, and it raises a lot of questions.”
The federal communications minister, Anika Wells, said the incident was “incredibly serious and completely unacceptable”.
“The impact of this failure has had tragic consequences, and my personal thoughts are with those who have lost a loved one,” she said in a statement.
In a press conference on Saturday, Wells said Australians had “every right to be livid that Optus cannot get these basics right”.In a press conference on Saturday, Wells said Australians had “every right to be livid that Optus cannot get these basics right”.
“Optus have let Australians down when they needed them most.”“Optus have let Australians down when they needed them most.”
All telecommunications providers were obliged to ensure they carried emergency service calls and the outage would be thoroughly investigated, Wells said, adding that government would wait until state authorities and communications regulatory bodies had investigated the incident before considering possible consequences for Optus. All telecommunications providers were obliged to ensure they carried emergency service calls, and the outage would be thoroughly investigated, Wells said, adding that the government would wait until state authorities and communications regulatory bodies had completed their investigations before considering possible consequences for Optus.
“I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away,” Rue told reporters on Friday evening. The federal opposition’s communications spokesperson, Melissa McIntosh, expressed deep concern the triple zero camp-on arrangements to divert calls to other carriers like Telstra or Vodafone had also failed.
“I am so sorry for your loss. The outage occurred almost two years after more than 10 million Optus customers and businesses were disconnected for more than 16 hours in November 2023.
“What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down.” People could not call triple zero on landlines, although it was still possible on a mobile.
The federal opposition’s communications spokesperson, Melissa McIntosh, expressed deep concern the triple-zero camp-on arrangements to divert calls to other carriers had also failed.
The incident occurred almost two years after more than 10 million Optus customers and businesses were disconnected for more than 16 hours in November 2023.
People could not call triple zero on landlines, although it was still possible to do so on a mobile.
The telco was fined more than $12m for breaching emergency call rules during the nationwide outage.The telco was fined more than $12m for breaching emergency call rules during the nationwide outage.
Rue took over as the company’s chief executive in 2024 from Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who resigned over the 2023 outage.Rue took over as the company’s chief executive in 2024 from Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who resigned over the 2023 outage.