Australian telecom giant Optus has experienced a significant network outage, affecting thousands of people in New South Wales and preventing calls to emergency services for more than nine hours. The incident occurred on Sunday and comes just over a week after a similar disruption that has been linked to four deaths. Optus confirmed that all callers who attempted to contact emergency services during the outage are safe, according to police, and the company is now investigating the cause.
This latest outage follows another incident earlier this month that impacted 600 customers across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory for at least 10 hours. That earlier disruption was also linked to four deaths and prevented emergency calls from being completed. In addition, the National Broadband Network suffered an outage in Western Australia on Friday, further affecting customers’ ability to make emergency calls.
Australian Finance Minister Katy Gallagher expressed disappointment at the latest incident, stating that Optus must answer questions about the outages and its response. Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh described the interruptions as “extraordinary” and stressed the need for confidence in the country’s emergency services hotline, triple‑0.
Optus has faced substantial penalties in recent years. It was fined $66 million for selling unnecessary products to vulnerable customers between 2019 and 2023, leaving many in debt, and previously fined $7.9 million for a 2023 outage that halted its mobile and internet services for nearly 12 hours. Last week, the company announced an independent review to investigate the series of events surrounding the earlier outage and determine why emergency calls did not connect. The review aims to identify the cause of the outage and prevent similar incidents in the future.
The Australian government and regulatory bodies are expected to closely monitor the situation and Optus’s response to ensure the reliability and integrity of the nation’s emergency services.
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