Australian officials have indicated that telecommunications provider Optus will likely face serious repercussions following a recent systems outage associated with multiple fatalities. The incident, which occurred last week, rendered hundreds of individuals unable to access emergency services for a duration of 13 hours, affecting areas including South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, as well as parts of New South Wales.
Optus has reported that at least three fatalities occurred due to the outage, including a baby boy; however, police have stated that the network failure is “unlikely” to have contributed to this specific case. Authorities in Western Australia also mentioned the possibility of a fourth death linked to a missed emergency call. Optus’s Chief Executive, Stephen Rue, expressed condolences to the victims’ families and characterized the incident as a “completely unacceptable” failure.
The company faced criticism for its delayed response, as it took 40 hours to publicly acknowledge the outage and did not inform regulators until after the issue was resolved, contrary to established protocols according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Rue explained that the outage stemmed from a technical fault identified during a network upgrade. He noted that the company was unaware of the problems for 13 hours despite receiving multiple customer reports about the network’s malfunction, which were not appropriately escalated.
In light of the situation, Communications Minister Anika Wells emphasized that telecommunications providers must ensure reliable access to emergency services. She conveyed her “unbelievable disappointment” regarding the repeat nature of such failures and stated that significant consequences for Optus are forthcoming. Investigations into the outage are ongoing, with Rue promising to provide daily updates as further information becomes available.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ddzrgjnyo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss