Telecommunications carriers and regulators are rallying to an all-hands-on-deck alert after the federal government responded to an inquiry into Optus’s major November outage with a commitment to fast-track changes that have “considerable implications” for the industry.

The outage – which left train commuters stranded, hospitals disconnected, and the company’s more than 10 million mobile, broadband and business customers unable to access services for many hours on 8 November 2023 – significantly impacted Triple Zero emergency services, with 2,700 calls for help failing to be connected as company executives and engineers scrambled to get the network back online.

Ultimately blamed on a routine software upgrade that went wrong, the breach caught Optus flat-footed – exposing shortcomings in its disaster planning and triggering the resignation of embattled CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who was already struggling to recover from the company’s major data breach a year earlier.

A government inquiry into the outage, led by former Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) deputy chair Richard Bean, delivered its final report in March with 18 recommendations including requirements that telcos test Triple Zero services every six months, and ‘wilt’ towers during outages by powering off their base stations so Triple Zero calls are transmitted via other networks.

Carriers will be required to share real-time network information detailing outages with emergency services organisations and bodies including a new statutory Triple Zero Custodian (TZC) that will be charged with “oversight of and overarching responsibility for” the emergency phone services.

They will also be required to report major outages with details of the problem, steps taken to resolve it, and provide a “clear and detailed plan, with timeline” to address the issues identified.

“It is critical that the legislative and regulatory framework protecting telecommunications consumers and enabling the Emergency Call Service meet reasonable community expectations,” Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said in accepting all 18 recommendations and flagging changes that will, she said, “have considerable implications for mobile network operators, particularly with regard to information sharing.”

“It is not possible to guarantee there will never be another major outage,” she said, “however there must be safeguards in place to prevent and/or minimise the significant disruption the community experienced on 8 November 2023…. I expect industry to have regard for the seriousness of this disruption.”

Getting the entire industry on the line

Implementing widespread, standardised information sharing and other elements of the recommendations will require industry-wide collaboration, with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) initially charged with leading the formation of the TZC framework.

The government’s strong response “highlights the reality that telecommunications services are essential and critically important to our community,” ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said in committing her office to “work with all parties to deliver a robust Triple Zero function, enhanced telco standards and rules in line with community expectations, improved communication during a crisis, and a fairer system for consumers to seek compensation during times of mass disruption.”

It’s not the first time Optus’s emergency call handling has come under scrutiny, with Australia’s second-largest telecommunications carrier recently fined over $1.5 million for its “alarming” non-compliance with rules requiring it to supply customer details to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) used for emergency disaster notification.

And just days after the November breach, ACMA began investigating the company’s compliance with the Emergency Call Determination 2019.

Outages represent a massive pain point for telecommunications carriers – with the TIO recently observing a surge in complaints after the Optus outage – and squander goodwill in an industry where customers can switch to alternative carriers relatively easily.

That’s a problem for Optus – which by other accounts offers Australia’s best mobile experience, with OpenSignal’s newly released Mobile Network Experience Report finding that Optus continues to offer the industry’s fastest 5G download speeds, of 208.7Mbps.

Optus was also recognised as having the best consistent quality of any carrier, with OpenSignal noting that the carrier had recovered its primacy after its score “dropped considerably” during the November outage.