The nation’s second largest telco, Optus, is being sued in the Federal Court over last year’s major network outage in which hundreds of calls failed to reach Triple Zero.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) alleges Optus breached two legal obligations more than 1,000 times.

These included making sure customers who made emergency calls had access to the emergency call service and to ensure those calls were carried appropriately.

The maximum penalty available to the court is $250,000 per contravention.

Review into Optus Triple Zero failures released

Optus has released a much-anticipated review into September’s network failure that left hundreds of people unable to reach Triple Zero (000) and was linked to two deaths.

The massive outage, which occurred last September, went for almost 14 hours and was linked to two deaths. 

During the 14-hour outage 75 per cent of Triple Zero calls failed from a total of 605 attempts.

In December, Optus released a review it commissioned by experienced business and public service executive Kerry Schott, which found widespread failures contributed to the outage and prevented a faster resolution.

The report found a routine network upgrade was plagued by multiple failures by Optus and its contractor Nokia — with as many as 10 crucial mistakes being made.

It found the Optus call centre did not escalate warnings from five callers who said Triple Zero calls were failing.

The report said Optus needed to overhaul its network operations which “clearly failed” and improve risk management and internal audit functions.

Woman saw robber but could not call police using Triple Zero

A woman was unable to call Triple Zero after robbers broke into her home while she was in the bedroom.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the public must be able to access Triple Zero in an emergency.

“Australians rightly expect that when they call Triple Zero, their call will connect. The circumstances of this outage meant that did not reliably occur, leaving people unable to connect to potentially life-saving services,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

“Giving access to the emergency call service is not optional, it is a fundamental legal obligation and the most important public safety responsibility telecommunications providers have.”

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin at a senate estimates hearing

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said access to the emergency call service was “not optional”. (ABC News)

ACMA has previously taken action against Optus following an outage in November 2023.

The earlier enforcement action resulted in Singtel Optus subsidiaries, including Optus Mobile, paying more than $12 million in infringement notice penalties.

“The recurrence of a major network outage affecting emergency calls so soon after the November 2023 outage is a significant concern and one of the reasons the ACMA has decided to take this matter to court,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

Optus customers left angry after more failed Triple Zero calls

Optus customers have come forward to report more cases of Triple Zero calls failing outside the embattled telcos previously admitted outages.

In a statement, an Optus spokesperson said it would not be appropriate to comment on the legal proceedings, but the telco remained focused on “building a stronger and better Optus”.

“We continue to invest in network resilience, strengthen our systems and processes, build and foster a culture of transparency and accountability, and improve the services our customers and communities rely on every day,” the spokesperson said.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said she welcomed the court action against Optus describing the alleged failures as “serious”. 

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