Anger in Australia after telecom outage linked to deaths

Australian officials on Monday warned that Optus will face significant consequences after a telecommunications outage last week left hundreds unable to reach emergency services for about 13 hours.

Optus said at least three people died after the outage, including a baby boy, though police later said the network failure was unlikely to be the cause of the baby's death. Authorities in Western Australia also said they believe a fourth person died after a triple-0 call failed.

More than 600 calls to triple-0 failed, with most incidents in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory; two calls in southwestern New South Wales also did not connect.

Optus waited roughly 40 hours before informing the public about the outage, and regulators said the company did not notify them until the issue was resolved, a delay they called inconsistent with standard practice. In a Friday press conference, Optus chief executive Stephen Rue attributed the outage to a technical fault identified during a network upgrade and apologized to the families affected and to the broader public for the outage.

Rue said welfare checks conducted after service restoration confirmed three deaths, while police have said the network failure was unlikely to be the cause of the baby’s death. Authorities in WA indicated a fourth death might be related to a failed call.

Over the weekend, Rue said the company was unaware of the incident for 13 hours, and that complaints were not escalated or handled as they would be expected. Regulators emphasized that timely escalation and transparency are fundamental duties of a telco provider during outages.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority said it was deeply concerned by the situation and reiterated that Australians must be able to contact emergency services whenever they need help. The regulator noted a previous Optus outage in 2023 in which access to emergency call services was not provided to about 2,145 people, and it found issues in the follow-up with 369 affected individuals, resulting in penalties totaling more than A$12 million.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said providers had no excuse for triple-0 call failures and said she had spoken to Rue, who should consider resigning. She described the incident as an enormous failure that the government will address with significant consequences for the company and the sector.

Investigations are ongoing, and Rue has said he intends to provide daily updates as more information becomes known. The episode has intensified scrutiny of how telcos handle emergencies and the speed with which they inform the public and regulators when outages occur.

The episode underscores longstanding tensions between consumer expectations and industry readiness to maintain critical services during outages, renewing calls for stronger safeguards and clearer accountability as regulators assess next steps for Optus and the broader telecommunications sector.