By Karl Hoerr -
Australia’s second largest telecommunications provider Optus has been fined more than $12 million over last year’s nationwide network outage.
The penalties relate specifically to breaches of the rules governing access to the emergency triple zero service during the outage on 8 November 2023 and were imposed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority following an investigation.
The regulator found Optus had failed to provide emergency call access to more than 2,000 people during the outage and failed to conduct 369 welfare checks on people who tried to make an emergency call.
People and businesses across the country were affected by the outage and the company faced public criticism about its communication with customers, over how it was handling the situation.
The federal government has already agreed to a set of regulatory and other changes over separate failures, which were identified in a review after the incident.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin says the breaches were critical and the penalty reflects this.
“Triple Zero availability is the most fundamental service telcos must provide to the public. When an emergency call fails to connect there can be devastating consequences for public health and safety,” she says.
“Our findings indicate that Optus failed in the management of its network in a number of areas and the outage should have been preventable.”
ACMA says it is developing a new industry standard, requiring a minimum level of communications from telecommunications providers, during an outage.
Optus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore telecommunications company Singtel.
