Three people dead after Optus Triple Zero outage

Three people died during a Triple Zero network outage that resulted from a network upgrade, Optus chief executive Stephen Rue has said.

The failure on Thursday affected about 600 customers in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and three people died, Rue said at a hastily convened press conference at 5.30pm on Friday. Two of the deaths occurred in South Australia and one was in Western Australia.

“Our investigation is ongoing, but at this stage I can confirm that 600 customers were potentially impacted, of which a proportion of their calls did not go through,” Rue said.

“I can confirm that this technical failure has now been rectified. I have been advised that during the process of conducting welfare checks, three of the Triple Zero calls involved households where a person tragically passed away.”

When asked why the announcement was made late on Friday afternoon, Rue said the company needed to do 600 welfare checks before making the information public.

“Please know that these welfare checks are ongoing,” he said. “I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most, and I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away.

“I am so sorry for your loss.

“What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down and you have my assurance that we are conducting a thorough investigation, and once concluded, we will share the facts of the incident publicly.

“We will co-operate fully and transparently with all relevant government agencies and regulatory bodies while we investigate this matter further.”

The company did not specify the length of the outage. It said that was one of the aspects of the incident under investigation.

Optus will face widespread scrutiny over the incident, its first under the new chief executive, who joined the company after previous chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned following a mass outage and a data breach.

The telco could face fines of more than $10 million and other legal penalties.

When asked about his own leadership, Rue said, “Today is not about me, today is about the people who lost their lives.”

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.

“While details are still emerging, no Triple Zero outage is acceptable.

“Optus and all telecommunication providers have obligations to ensure they carry emergency services calls.

“This outage will be thoroughly investigated. The Australian government accepted all recommendations from the previous Optus outage review and has fully implemented 12 of the 18 recommendations, with the remaining six under way.”

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said it was “deeply concerning” that the Triple Zero “camp-on” arrangements – in which emergency calls are diverted to other carriers such as Telstra – had failed.

“My heart goes out to the families and loved ones who have tragically passed away,” she said.

“Whilst Optus is still undertaking an investigation as to how this occurred, I am very concerned the emergency camp-on arrangements that should have been in place also failed.

“There must be a full and thorough investigation into this incident, to establish how and why and most importantly – ensure this never happens again”.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas held his own press conference late on Friday, blasting the telco for a lack of communication.

“I have not witnessed such incompetence from an Australian corporation in respect to communication worse than this,” Malinauskas told reporters.

“I cannot believe that anyone in a senior level from Optus thought they should craft a media statement and conduct a press conference before advising the South Australian government that they had ascertained two deaths had occurred.

“I think, quite frankly, that is reprehensible conduct on behalf of Optus.

“My message to Optus this evening is that there will be a thorough examination conducted independently by the South Australian government on every single matter pertaining to their conduct regarding this incident.”

West Australian Premier Roger Cook said he was urgently seeking more information from the telco.

“This is a tragedy and my deepest sympathies go to families of those impacted,” he said. “What has occurred is completely unacceptable.”

A November 2023 network meltdown affected about 10 million customers and left hundreds unable to get through to Triple Zero emergency services over 16 hours and a September 2022 data breach was the worst in Australian corporate history.

Last year, the telco was made to pay a $12 million fine by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for breaching emergency call regulations.

An ACMA investigation found that during the nationwide network outage in 2023, Optus failed to provide Triple Zero access for more than 2000 people, and subsequently failed to conduct 369 welfare checks on those who had attempted to make emergency calls.

“We don’t manage the Triple Zero system,” Bayer Rosmarin told a Senate hearing in 2023. “It’s a very complex system that involves all the carriers. We’re still investigating that, and we’re really happy that the ACMA has called an investigation into why this did not work.”

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