Optus to be sued over fatal Triple Zero outage that saw hundreds of calls blocked
Telco giant Optus is being sued in Federal Court after a fatal Triple Zero outage last year.
Hundreds of emergency calls in four states and territories were blocked during the outage on September 18, which lasted for almost 14 hours.
The outage was allegedly linked to two deaths due to failed Triple Zero calls.
On Thursday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said it had commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against Optus Mobile Pty Limited (Optus Mobile).
The ACMA alleges that, during the outage, the telco breached two separate legal obligations on 1,005 occasions.
The authority alleges it failed to ‘give end-users who made emergency calls using an emergency telephone service supplied by Optus Mobile access to the emergency call service’.
It also claimed Optus failed to ‘ensure that those emergency calls were carried to the relevant termination point’.
‘Australians rightly expect that when they call Triple Zero, their call will connect,’ ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement.
Telco giant Optus is being sued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in Federal Court after a fatal Triple Zero outage last year (stock image)
‘Australians rightly expect that when they call Triple Zero, their call will connect,’ ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin (pictured) said in a statement
‘The circumstances of this outage meant that did not reliably occur, leaving people unable to connect to potentially life-saving services.
‘Giving access to the emergency call service is not optional, it is a fundamental legal obligation and the most important public safety responsibility telecommunications providers have.’
In the lawsuit, ACMA is seeking declarations that Optus Mobile broke the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act on 1,005 occasions.
It is also seeking a court order that Optus Mobile pay penalties to the Commonwealth for the alleged contraventions.
The maximum penalty available to the court is $250,000 per contravention.
An Optus spokesperson told the Daily Mail the telco acknowledges the proceedings commenced today by the ACMA in the Federal Court.
‘As the matter is now before the Court, it would be inappropriate for us to comment on the legal proceedings,’ they said.
‘Our focus remains on building a stronger and better Optus.
The outage in September was linked to two deaths due to failed Triple Zero calls (file image)
‘We continue to invest in network resilience, strengthen our systems and processes, build and foster a culture of transparency and accountability, and improve the services our customers and communities rely on every day.
‘This work is being supported by our broader transformation program and implementation of the Dr Schott report recommendations.’
Dr Kerry Schott’s independent review into the outage in December gave 21 recommendations targeting process gaps, accountability, and escalation protocols.
The ACMA lawsuit comes after previous enforcement action by the authority over an Optus outage in November 2023.
Singtel Optus subsidiaries, including Optus Mobile, paid more than $12million in infringement notice penalties imposed by the authority for breaches relating to emergency calls.
These included failures to give access to the emergency call service during that outage.
‘The recurrence of a major network outage affecting emergency calls so soon after the November 2023 outage is a significant concern and one of the reasons the ACMA has decided to take this matter to court,’ Ms O’Loughlin said.
‘The ACMA will not hesitate to take strong enforcement action where alleged telco failures have jeopardised public access to the critical emergency call service.’
