Singtel’s Optus hit with second outage just 10 days after emergency call failures that led to deaths

SINGAPORE: Singapore-owned Optus was hit by a second disruption on Monday (Sep 29), just 10 days after a disruption impacting Triple Zero calls, Australia’s emergency hotline, that reportedly left several customers unable to reach timely help and was linked to four deaths, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Australia’s second-largest telco said that the latest problem was traced to a mobile tower in Dapto, New South Wales (NSW), which went down on Sunday morning and interrupted services for around 4,500 people, including access to emergency calls.

Optus said it continues to investigate the cause and confirmed the issue had been restored.

“We have investigated the impact of the issue on calls made between 3 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. yesterday, including calls made to the Triple Zero network, and have confirmed with police, all callers who attempted to contact emergency services are OK. We sincerely apologise to any customers who were impacted,” the company stated.

In a statement on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday, its parent company, Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel), said Optus’ latest outage was totally unrelated to last week’s triple-zero incident.

“It is a different type of outage which was limited to one cell site out of 3,140 in NSW,” it added.

Singtel added that Optus has confirmed that one person who needed emergency services was affected but managed to call emergency services using another phone successfully.

On Sep 18, Optus conducted a network upgrade that caused a 13-hour outage, disrupting Triple Zero calls in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, which led to the four deaths.

In a bourse filing on Sep 19, Optus CEO Stephen Rue offered his sincere apology to customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them the most.

“I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away. I am so sorry for your loss. What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down,” he said. He also assured customers that they are conducting a thorough investigation and will share the facts of the incident publicly.

According to SCMP, the incidents have drawn sharp criticism in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the Optus issue “completely unacceptable,” while Finance Minister Katy Gallagher described the latest outage as “more disappointing news off the back of the major disruption that happened the week before.”

A spokesperson from Singtel said it takes the matter seriously and will extend full cooperation to the Australian government and authorities to address it.

This week, Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon will meet Australia’s Communications Minister Anika Wells, together with Optus Chairman John Arthur and CEO Stephen Rue.

Optus has announced an independent review to examine the outage and why emergency calls failed. The review is due to be completed by year-end. Mr Rue has admitted procedures were not followed during the first outage and said checks suggested human error may have caused it. /TISG

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