Optus has paid more than $12 million in fines for violating emergency calling rules during its nationwide network outage a year ago, causing significant disruption.
The telecommunications company failed to provide access to the emergency calling service to 2,145 people during the outage, an Australian Communications and Media Authority investigation has found.
He later failed to conduct welfare checks on 369 people who had attempted to make an emergency call during the blackout.
ACMA president Nerida O’Loughlin said the size of the penalty reflected the critical nature of the breaches.
“Triple zero availability is the most fundamental service that telcos must offer to the public,” he said.
“When an emergency call does not connect, there can be devastating consequences for public health and safety.”
Optus failed to manage its network in several areas and the outage should have been avoided, he said.
The 12-hour outage on November 8 last year left 10 million people and businesses unable to make or receive calls or complete transactions. The cause was found to be a software update.
The telecommunications company did not provide access to emergency calling service to 2,145 people during the 2023 blackout (pictured, an Optus store in Melbourne).
Other failings by Optus during the outage were identified in a government-commissioned post-incident review, led by former ACMA vice-chairman Richard Bean.
The government agreed to a comprehensive set of regulatory and other actions to improve the performance of the entire telecommunications sector when it comes to network outages.
These include requiring better communications by telcos with their customers and other stakeholders during an outage, greater oversight of the triple zero ecosystem, regular testing of systems, and ensuring that other operators can make emergency calls seamlessly and consistent when necessary.
“Beyond the sanctions announced by ACMA, Optus’ service disruption has directly led to changes to the industry’s regulatory obligations in relation to emergency call services,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“This will require further action and investment by telecommunications companies, including Optus, to provide better safeguards for consumers and improve the triple zero ecosystem so Australians can have even greater confidence that they will be able to contact emergency services.” when they need them.”
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government would continue to work closely with the regulator, industry and other stakeholders to implement the remaining recommendations of the Bean review as quickly as possible, to prevent and better manage future network disruptions. .
In September, a Senate report found that Optus’ offer of 200GB of data in compensation for the 12-hour outage was “false” because few of its customers were likely to make use of the extra data.
