SYDNEY – Australia’s three top telecommunications firms agreed on Oct 7 to conduct a drill to ensure customers can contact emergency services during outages as the federal government moved to improve safety following
a deadly outage of the Singtel-owned Optus network
.
Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells met the heads of the three firms that operate mobile networks – Telstra, Optus and TPG – in Canberra on Oct 7 to discuss their preparedness for future outages in the lead-up to the summer bushfire and cyclone season.
The meeting came as Ms Wells faced pressure to restore confidence in the country’s emergency services call system following an Optus outage on Sept 18 that left over 600 people unable to contact emergency services. The outage has been linked to three deaths.
Ms Wells told Parliament that the three firms had agreed to hold a simulation to “stress-test” the system and ensure that calls to the Triple Zero emergency services line, whose number is 000, do not fail in future outages.
The federal government on Oct 7 introduced legislation to strengthen oversight of the Triple Zero system. The new measures, expected to come into effect on Nov 1, require firms to immediately report any Triple Zero outages to emergency services such as police, fire and ambulance.
The legislation also enables the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to compel telecommunications firms to provide information during outages to a Triple Zero “custodian” – an oversight team operating in Ms Wells’ Department of Communications.
“What happened in September was not good enough, and legislating a Triple Zero custodian will drive real change,” Ms Wells told Parliament. “If a telco fails Australians like Optus did, they will face significant consequences. There is no excuse.”
The Optus outage has prompted widespread public anger, especially as it followed a nationwide Optus phone and internet outage in 2023 that affected crucial services for customers and businesses. During that outage, more than 2,100 people were unable to contact emergency services.
Ms Wells met in Canberra with Optus chief executive Stephen Rue, as well as the heads of Telstra and TPG, Ms Vicki Brady and Mr Inaki Berroeta, respectively.
The minister reportedly raised concerns about the need to speedily improve the reliability of emergency services calls as the risk of bushfires and storms increases in the lead-up to summer. During outages, the mobile operators are required to ensure that Triple Zero calls are redirected to other networks.
After the meeting, the three chief executives said in a statement that outages can occur due to factors such as severe weather, power loss or technical faults, but added that they were committed to minimising disruptions to Triple Zero calls when problems arise.
“Australians need to be able to trust that calls to Triple Zero will work when it matters most, and we take that responsibility seriously,” they said.
“The industry supports ongoing collaboration with the government to strengthen the Triple Zero ecosystem, improve real-time network information sharing, and enhance emergency response coordination.”
Ms Wells, facing pressure from the opposition Liberal-National Coalition over the outage, insisted that the blame for the Sept 18 outage should fall squarely on Optus.
Referring to recent apologies by the heads of Optus and Singtel to families affected by the outage, she said: “I think we can all agree it is right and appropriate for these companies to apologise because they are the cause of these catastrophic failures.
“This outage and the many failings of Optus are the fault of Optus alone, and I think the political actions, the politicising of a catastrophe here are letting Optus off the hook.”
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is visiting Australia this week, has
offered condolences
to the families of those who died during the outage.
He told ABC News in an interview aired on Oct 6 that the Singapore Government, whose state investor Temasek is a majority shareholder in Singtel, “(does) not get involved in commercial operations”.
“They (Singtel) will, I am sure, cooperate fully with the authorities, with the regulator, and work closely with Optus and whichever other independent parties that have been appointed to conduct a full investigation into what happened,” he said.
“And I hope they get to the bottom of it as soon as possible, identify the root causes, rectify the issue, and restore confidence and trust as soon as possible.”
The Optus outage has prompted multiple inquiries, including an investigation by ACMA and an independent review commissioned by Optus.
OptusAustraliaSingaporeTelcosSingtel
