‘Completely unacceptable’: Australia readies telco shake-up after Optus triple-0 failure tied to four deaths

Australia’s government is gearing up to tighten the rules on the nation’s phone networks after an Optus systems meltdown stopped hundreds of triple-0 calls and has been linked to four deaths.

The 13-hour outage began just after midnight last Thursday and stretched across more than half the country. South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory were hit hardest, with a handful of failed emergency calls also reported in south-western New South Wales. By the time services were restored, Optus says 624 attempts to reach triple-0 hadn’t connected.

What’s made a bad situation worse is how the company handled it. Optus waited about 40 hours to tell the public, and it didn’t notify the regulator until the issue was over—exactly the opposite of how it’s supposed to work.

“Australians must be able to contact emergency services whenever they need help,” the Australian Communications and Media Authority said, calling the lapse “deeply concerning” and opening a fresh investigation.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue has apologised to the families and the public, calling the failure “completely unacceptable.” He says a technical fault during a network upgrade—specifically a firewall change—triggered the breakdown, and admits the company didn’t realise triple-0 calls were failing for 13 hours. Several customers tried to warn Optus’ call centre in the early hours, but those complaints weren’t escalated. Rue has ordered an outside expert review, paused further network changes, and promised daily updates as the facts come in.

Authorities say three deaths were confirmed in welfare checks after service returned, and police in WA believe a fourth person also died after a failed triple-0 attempt. South Australia Police have indicated the outage was “unlikely” to have contributed to the death of an eight-week-old boy because a second phone reached an ambulance immediately. In a follow-up sweep of call logs, Optus identified additional customers who couldn’t get through in a 13-minute window as the upgrade was being readied; most have since been contacted, with a few cases referred to police for welfare checks.

Canberra’s response is blunt. Communications Minister Anika Wells says there’s “no excuse” for a triple-0 failure and vowed “significant consequences,” signalling regulatory and potentially legislative changes once the probe lands. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made clear Optus’ behaviour is “completely unacceptable” and said the company’s leadership should reflect on its position.

This isn’t a one-off. Optus copped more than A$12 million in penalties last year for breaching emergency call rules during a nationwide outage in 2023, and it’s still rebuilding trust after a massive 2022 cyberattack. Rival Telstra has also been fined for emergency-call compliance failures, underscoring a broader industry problem the government now seems determined to fix.

For now, there are no quick answers—just a clear message. Emergency calls are a non-negotiable public safety obligation. Optus is on notice, and the rules of the road for every telco in Australia are about to get tougher.

With input from BBC, Reuters, ABC News, the Guardian, and Bloomberg.