Australia's Outrage Over Telecom Failure Linked to Emergency Deaths

Fri Sep 26 2025 15:56:09 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

A recent telecommunications outage in Australia has been linked to multiple deaths, sparking outrage and calls for accountability from Optus, one of the country's major providers.

An Optus telecommunications outage that left hundreds unable to contact emergency services for 13 hours has resulted in at least three known deaths. Following significant backlash, Communications Minister Anika Wells criticized the company for its handling of the crisis, stating it represents a failure to the Australian people. Investigations by authorities are ongoing, as Optus faces scrutiny for delaying public notification and regulatory compliance. Chief executive Stephen Rue has apologized and pledged to prevent future incidents.

Australian officials have promised telecommunications giant Optus will face significant consequences over a systems outage linked to multiple deaths.

The incident last week left hundreds of people across more than half of the country unable to call emergency services for 13 hours.

Optus - one of the country's two major providers - says at least three people died as a result, and its chief executive has apologized to their families and the public for the completely unacceptable failure.

The company is under fire for its delayed handling of the incident - the second such outage for the firm in two years - and the nation's communications regulator is investigating.

More than 600 calls to emergency services failed last Thursday, primarily coming from South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. At least two calls to triple-0 made from south-western New South Wales also did not connect.

However, Optus waited 40 hours to inform the public about the incident and also did not tell regulators until the issue was resolved - counter to standard practice, according to the Australian Media and Communications Authority (Acma).

In a press conference on Friday, Optus boss Stephen Rue blamed the outage on a technical fault identified during a network upgrade. He expressed his sorrow over the loss of lives, although the authorities have indicated the network failure was unlikely to be the cause in one case, involving a baby boy. Additionally, a police investigation in WA indicates a fourth death linked to a failed emergency call.

In a series of updates over the weekend, Rue stated that the company was unaware of the incident for 13 hours, despite multiple customers attempting to report the network issue. The inadequate escalation of customer complaints has been highlighted as a critical failure on the company's part.

I would like to reiterate how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people who could not reach emergency services in their time of need, Rue stated.

An Acma spokesperson expressed deep concern over the situation, emphasizing that Australians must be able to contact emergency services whenever they need help. The regulator previously found Optus lacked adequate access to emergency call services during a 2023 outage, resulting in penalties exceeding A$12 million.

Communications Minister Anika Wells criticized the telecom provider, declaring that there is no justification for failures in emergency call connectivity. She has openly stated that actions and investigations are ongoing, but the company must face accountability for their handling of the crisis.

Investigations are still underway, and Mr. Rue has indicated he intends to give daily public updates as more information becomes known.